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I AM AN AMHKICAN 



I AM AN AMERICAN 



BY 



SARA CONE ERYANT 

(Mrs. Theodore F. Borst) 

Author of "Hozv to Tell Stories to Children," 
" Stories to Tell to Children," etc. 




HOUGHTON MIFFLIN, COMPANY 

BOSTON NEW YORK * CHICAGO 



ETr 






COPYRIGHT, I91S, BY SARA BRYANT BORST 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 

Published November iqi8 



LI* 



NOV 20 1918 
©CI.A506655 



CONTENTS 

I. MY COUNTRY 1 

II. WHAT IS A GOVERNMENT? 6 

III. HOW A MONARCHY BEGINS 9 

IV. MY GOVERNMENT 12 

V. MY CITY 15 

VI. HOW WE VOTE 13 

VII. MY FLAG 22 

VIII. DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE ... 25 

IX. THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION .... 29 

X. OUR FIRST PRESIDENT 34 

XI. THE BUILDERS OF THE NATION .... 37 

XII. FRIENDS OF LIBERTY 41 

XIII. OUR FIRST IDEALS 46 

XIV. MY MOTHER'S FLAG 49 

XV. UNION AND LIBERTY 54 

XVI. ABRAHAM LINCOLN 57 

XVII. A DAY OF PRAYER Gl 

XVIII. AMERICANS ALL 65 

XIX. RICHEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD ... 69 

XX. AMERICA'S TREASURES 72 

XXI. THE MOST BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY .... 76 

XXII. BIG AND LITTLE BEAUTIES 80 



iv CONTENTS 

XXIII. MY MOTHER TONGUE 85 

XXIV. THE TONGUE OF TREASON 90 

XXV. WHEN CUBA WAS SET FREE 95 

XXVI. HOW COUNTRIES LIVE TOGETHER . . .100 

XXVII. WHAT THE NATIONS PROMISED . . . .104 

XXVIII. WHEN THE GREAT WAR BEGAN . . . .108 

XXIX. HONOR AND DISHONOR 113 

XXX. THE LUSITANIA 118 

XXXI. WHEN AMERICA FOUGHT 124 

XXXII. WHAT AMERICA FOUGHT FOR 129 

XXXIII. MY NAVY 134 

XXXIV. MY ARMY 140 

XXXV. THE AMERICAN RED CROSS 148 

XXXVI. OUR IDEALS TO-DAY 157 



.!•--•'•-' 





MY * COUNTRY 




ONE day in the winter of 1917 the men on a ship 
of the American Navy looked out over the gray 
waves of the Atlantic Ocean and saw a lifeboat tum- 
bling about in the stormy sea. They lowered one of 
their boats and rowed out to the tossing lifeboat. 
There was only one man in it. He was a Chinaman, 
and he was half dead with cold, hunger, and thirst. 
He was the only man left alive from a ship that a 
German submarine had sunk. 



2 I AM AN AMERICAN 

The American sailors lifted the Chinaman on 
board their ship and hurried to get warm clothes and 
hot tea for him. But to their surprise he would not 
drink. He put up his hands to push away the cup, 
and seemed terribly afraid. 

At last one of the officers said, "I believe the poor 
fellow thinks we are Germans; he thinks we are giv- 
ing him poison!" 

So the officer said to the Chinaman, "I am an 
American. We are all Americans." He said it over 
and over. And after a moment the Chinaman's eyes 
grew bright. He reached out for the hot tea, and 
drank it eagerly. 

He was no longer afraid when he heard the words, 
"I am an American." 

Just before America entered the Great War in 
1917, we had an American Ambassador in Germany 
named James Gerard. Because England and France 
were at war with Germany, it was his duty to take 
care of all the English and French people in Germany. 
He had to do what the English and French Ambassa- 
dors would have done if they had been there. 

One day Mr. Gerard was riding in a motor out in 
the country with two German officers, and he saw 
some women working in the fields. He said to a 



MY COUNTRY 3 

German officer, "Those women do not look like 
peasants." 

The German officer said that all the women in that 
part of the country dressed very well. He wanted to 
drive on. 

But Mr. Gerard thought the women might be 
French prisoners, so he got out of the motor and 
started toward the nearest one. 

When she saw a man coming toward her, the young 
girl rose from her knees where she had been working 
and started to run away. 

Mr. Gerard called out, "Do not be afraid. I am 
an American." 

The girl stood still, and when Mr. Gerard came 
nearer she came to him, weeping. She told him she 
was a slave in the hands of the German Army. She 
begged Mr. Gerard to get help from America. She 
was very happy to talk to him. She knew that no 
American would hurt her. 

To the poor young French girl, and to the half- 
dead Chinaman, those words, "I am an American," 
meant that here was some one who could be trusted, 
some one who would be kind. 

What do these words mean to us? 

When we say, "I am an American," we are proud 



4 I AM AN AMERICAN 

and glad and thankful. But not many of us know 
how much reason we have to be proud and glad and 
thankful. In all the world to-day there are no people 
so fortunate as the people who can say, "I am an 
American." 

Why this is so we shall find out more and more as 
we study our own history and the history of other 
countries. We shall find out still more when we grow 
up and travel to other countries. And now, while we 
are boys and girls, we can begin to learn about it. 

Every little boy who goes to the Primary School 
can tell people what his name is, what street and town 
his home is in, and what his father's name is. He 
can say, "I am Johnnie Jones. I live at 2 A Street, 
Chicago, Illinois." 

Now that we are bigger boys and girls we ought to 
be able to tell people what our National name is, 
and something about our larger home, our country. 

That is what this book is for. Suppose we start 
right here, and say the rest of this chapter. We can 
study it carefully and then read it out loud : — 

I am an American. My country is the United States 
of America. My flag is the Stars and Stripes. 

The Stars and Stripes fly over the school I go to, 
because it is an American public school. It was built 



MY COUNTRY 5 

with public money, it is kept warm and clean with 
public money, and the teacher is paid with public 
money. "Public" means belonging to the people. 

Every one in my school is protected by the laws of 
the United States of America, and by the American 
Army and Navy. 

I go to school to learn to be a good citizen. All the 
people who belong to a country, either by birth or by 
choice, are citizens of that country. I am an American 
citizen. 

It is an important thing to be an American citizen, 
because the American citizens govern the United States 
of America. 

In some countries the citizens do not govern, but a 
King or a Queen governs. These countries are called 
monarchies, or kingdoms. "Monarchy" is just an other 
word for "kingdom." Spain is a kingdom, Prussia is 
a kingdom, Portugal is a kingdom. They are all mon- 
archies. 

A country where the citizens govern is called a re- 
public. France is a republic, Switzerland is a republic, 
Argentina is a republic. 

The United States of America was the first republic, 
and it is the greatest republic in the world. When I 
grow up I shall help govern the greatest republic in the 
world. I must study well now, so that I may be one of 
the best citizens in the world. 




II 

THE Stars and Stripes fly over the White House 
in Washington because the President of the 
United States lives there, and the President is the 
head of our Government. The Stars and Stripes fly 
over the Post-Office in this town, too, because the 
Post-OfFice belongs to the Government. 

What is "government"? Let us see. 

Ten families move away into a new place, where 
there are no buildings, no laws, no police. In the ten 
families there are thirty children. 



WHAT IS A GOVERNMENT? 7 

As soon as the families have made houses to live 
in, the fathers and mothers will say, "Our children 
must be educated, they must have teachers." 

But each family cannot get a teacher for its own 
children. That would take ten teachers, and would 
cost too much. The fathers and mothers all join 
together and get one teacher for the thirty children. 
They choose a committee of three fathers and 
mothers. This committee finds a good teacher, starts 
a school, and tells the families how much each will 
have to pay. 

Very soon the fathers say, "We must have a good 
road so the children can get to the school in winter, 
and so we can take our goods to each other." 

No one family can make a road alone, so again 
they join together and choose a committee. This 
committee finds the best place for a road and gets it 
built and tells each family how much it has to pay. 

After a while one of the fathers does not pay his 
bills promptly. One of the mothers lets her children 
stay away from school. Somebody drives a heavy 
team into the gutter and spoils the road. Every one 
is bothered by these things. 

So once more the families join together, to get some 
rules made to live by, rules that will give all the fam- 



8 I AM AN AMERICAN 

ilies the most comfort. They choose another com- 
mittee for this. They read the laws to the families, 
and the families say, "We will obey the laws. Any 
one who does not obey these laws shall be punished." 

Then they choose a committee to see that the laws 
are kept. 

Now the ten families have made a government. 
All these committees and laws are a government, a 
republican form of government. 

A republic, a country governed by its citizens, is 
just like this ten families, only bigger. Its govern- 
ment is chosen by the people, to take care of the 
things that belong to all together. The government 
is the manager of the people's business. 




Ill 

WE have just seen a republican government 
when it is small and new. Now let us look at 
a monarchy, when it is small and new. 

One family moves away into a new place where 
there are no buildings or laws or police. The father 
is very strong and the two sons are very strong. They 
build a house and live by hunting and fishing. 

Soon a second family comes and makes a home 
not far away. The father is not a very strong man, 



10 I AM AN AMERICAN 

and he has no sons. He has brought a cow with 
him. 

The first family goes in the night and steals the 
cow. When the man tries to get it back, he finds that 
three men with guns are against him. He can do 
nothing. 

But across the mountains are other families, wild 
and fierce. They come and try to take the crops of 
both families. The three strong men say to the 
weaker one, "Fight with us, and we will drive the 
wild men away." So he fights with them and they 
drive the others off. 

After this the weak man does not dare do anything 
against the three strong men, because he needs their 
help against the wild men. The strong men need his 
help, too, but they see that he needs them more than 
they need him, so they say, "You shall be our man. 
You shall work for us and fight for us, and in turn we 
will protect you from the enemy." 

A few other families move into the wilderness, and 
they come to the first family and say, "You are pow- 
erful; help us against the wild men." But the three 
strong men care only for themselves. They make 
the others obey them and fight as they command. 
. The father of the first family puts his oldest son in 



HOW A MONARCHY BEGINS 11 

charge of the army. His other son manages the crops 
and the workers. « 

The three make a law that every man must take 
turns standing guard over their house. They make a 
law that every one must bring one third of his crop 
to them. They make many other laws. All the others 
obey these laws because they are afraid. 

Now the strong family has made a government. It 
is the beginning of a monarchy, just as the ten fam- 
ilies were the beginning of a republic. It is the man- 
agement of the people's business, but not for the 
people. It is for the strong family and its friends. 

The great kingdoms of the world began like this. 
They have changed very much since, and in all of 
them the people have gained some power, but they 
are all founded on the same principle, the principle 
that Might makes Right. 

In a monarchy the people are governed by a ruling 
class. In a republic the people are governed by them- 
selves. We call a monarchy an "autocracy;" we call 
a republic a "democracy." The republic is a free 
country, the monarchy is not a free country. 




IV 

I AM an American. I am a citizen of the American 
Republic, first and greatest in the world. My 
country is a Union of Free States, under one central 
government which is chosen by the people and in 
which all have equal rights. 

The central government is called the Federal 
Government. It meets at Washington, the Capital 
of the United States. Washington is named for George 
Washington, the first President. 



MY GOVERNMENT 13 

Each State has its own capital city with a capital 
building called a State House, where the State Gov- 
ernment meets. Each city in a State has a City Hall 
where the City Government meets. And every little 
town in the State has a Town Hall where the Town 
Government meets. 

The City Government is the manager of the busi- 
ness of that city, the things that belong to all the 
people together. The head of the management is 
called a Mayor. 

The bigger, harder things, that belong to all the 
cities and towns together, are managed by the State 
Government. The head of the State Government is 
called a Governor. 

The very biggest, hardest things, that belong to 
all the people everywhere, are managed by the Fed- 
eral Government. And the head of the Federal 
Government, as we know, is the President. 

From the smallest town to the great city of Wash- 
ington, all this management of the people's business 
is chosen by the citizens. It is a government by 
"popular representation." 

The Union of Free States under a Federal Govern- 
ment, with popular representation, was all thought 
out for us by the wise men who made the first plan 



14 I AM AN AMERICAN 

of our Government. This was called the Constitution 
of the United States, and it has made our country 
the happiest and safest country in the world. Wash- 
ington and thirty other men made it, and it has been 
made better since by other wise men. A constitution 
is a plan of government. 

Our Constitution is a great treasure, a precious 
inheritance of Liberty. It has been studied and fol- 
lowed by free nations all over the world. 

As a loyal American I will obey the laws of my 
City, my State, and my country. I will do my best 
to keep these laws fair and equal. I will obey and 
defend the Constitution of the United States of 
America. 




THE Stars and Stripes fly over the City Hall in 
my city. The City Government, with the Mayor 
as its head, meets there to manage the city business. 
The Mayor is chosen by the citizens every few years, 
and the Aldermen — that is, the biggest committee 
— are chosen every few years. There are twelve 
Aldermen. 

There is a great deal of city business, and many 
committees manage it. 

The schoolhouses have to be kept in order and new 



16 I AM AN AMERICAN 

ones built. Teachers have to be chosen, books have 
to be bought, janitors have to be hired. Coal has to 
be bought, and many other things. Most of all, the 
studies of the children have to be kept useful, and 
enough like those of other towns so that it will do no 
harm when a family moves from one town to another. 

The streets have to be mended and new ones made. 
The water pipes have to be cared for and the water 
kept pure. 

The fire department has to be chosen and engines 
bought. 

The playgrounds and the town parks have to be 
kept in order. 

There must be a judge, and a court, and police, and 
a jail, to protect all the town from law-breaking. 

All this costs much money. It is all paid for 
with the citizens' money, your fathers' and mothers' 
money. 

All government is paid for with the people's money, 
whether the government is a republic or a monarchy. 
It has to be so, for there is no other money. So we 
see how fair it is that government should be by popu- 
lar representation. 

It is very important for the citizens to choose a 
good government to spend their money. A foolish 



MY CITY 17 

Mayor can waste your father's money and a dis- 
honest committee can use the town's money for itself. 
When money is wasted in bad streets that have to 
be mended too often, or for poor books that do not 
educate the children, your father and mother do not 
get what they paid for. 

The citizens can choose a good government for 
themselves, if they will. When there is a poor govern- 
ment, in a republic, it is the citizens' fault. A poor 
monarchy is not the citizens' fault, but a poor 
republic is. 

A citizen of a republic should be ashamed to find 
fault with his government. If he thinks it is bad, he 
should join with other men who think as he does, and 
choose men he believes are honest and able. 

As American children let us make up our minds 
that when we grow up we will take part in all our 
town business. And we will learn all we can now to 
make us wise and clever then. 

We must remember that the little Town Govern- 
ment is the beginning of the great system of govern- 
ment that ends at Washington. Only by a wise 
beginning can we have a perfect system. 




VI 

ALL the choosing of men and committees is done 
by voting, by the "ballot." We hear a great 
deal about the "ballot box," and the "power of the 
vote." The vote is the most powerful thing in a 
republic, because the votes choose the men who 
govern us. 

The kind of voting we do in the United States is 
very simple. On voting days we have all seen our 
fathers and mothers going to the different voting 



HOW WE VOTE 19 

places to cast their ballot. Some of the places are 
schools, but some are funny little buildings, like a 
portable garage, set up in the street. 

When your father goes in to the voting place he 
finds a kind of little gate by a desk. A man sits at 
the desk and a police officer stands by the gate. One 
or two other men also stand there. 

The man at the desk, who is called the "election 
clerk," marks your father's name and address in his 
book. Then your father takes a ballot from one of 
the men and goes through the gate into the room. 
Along the wall are booths like a telephone booth. He 
goes into one of these, and there he unfolds his ballot, 
where no one can see him. 

The ballot is a slip of paper with names printed on 
it. The names are those to be voted on for office. 
Your father marks the names he wants to choose, he 
folds the ballot so that the names do not show, and 
comes back to the clerk. He hands the folded ballot 
to one of the election officers and the officer drops it 
into the ballot box. The clerk marks your father's 
name in his book. This is called recording his vote. 

Now your father has done his part as a citizen to 
choose the representatives that make a Republican 
Government. 



20 I AM AN AMERICAN 

This way of voting was first planned out and used 
in Australia, and is called the "Australian Ballot." 
It is also sometimes called the "direct, secret vote." 
It is planned so that no one can meddle with a man's 
vote. 

After the voting is done, the ballots are counted 
by a committee. The names of the men which are 
on the most ballots are elected. Those men have 
been chosen for the Government. 

We can see, in a republic, that the men who govern 
are the men that the most people want. It is what 
we call a majority rule. " Majority " only means the 
greater number. 

The country gets what the greater number wants. 
If there are two men trying to be Mayor, and one of 
them is a man who believes in concrete roads, 
while the other wants cheaper roads, the majority of 
the people decide whether they will have concrete 
roads or not. If the majority of people want cheap 
roads they will vote for the second man, and he will 
be elected. If the majority want concrete roads 
they will vote for the first, and he will be elected. The 
majority rules. 

It is fair that the greatest number should decide, 
and it gives us a good kind of government. But since 



HOW WE VOTE 21 

the majority rule, the Government cannot be any- 
better than the majority of the people are. So we 
can see it is most important that the majority of the 
people shall be sensible and honest. 

The kind of men we have in our neighborhood de- 
cides the kind of representative we send to the Gov- 
ernment. If we have educated men, clean and sensi- 
ble and honest, we shall choose a good representative. 
If we have ignorant men, who drink and live foolish 
lives, they will choose a dishonest man, and he will do 
poor work. This is worth remembering. 

America has public schools for all the children, so 
they may grow up to be clean, sensible, and honest; 
then the majority will be good citizens, not bad: good 
rulers, not bad. The American public school is the 
sound beginning of happiness, success, and service. It 
gives us all a chance to learn the things that make us 
rich and wise and good. Let us be loyal and diligent 
in it. 




VII 

THE American flag is red, white, and blue. It is 
easy to see from far off, as all flags must be. It 
is a beautiful flag. 

The citizens of every country love their own flag 
and think it is beautiful because it means home to 
them. 

English people love their flag, and French people 
love theirs. Their soldiers have fought under it, 
and they themselves have lived under its protection. 



MY FLAG 23 

I must always respect the flags of other countries, 

and remember that they are dear to their citizens, 

i 

just as the Stars and Stripes are dear to me. 

I love the Red, White, and Blue, the flag of Amer- 
ica, because it is my own flag, the flag of my own 
country, where I live, and where I shall some day be 
a governing citizen. 

I love and reverence this flag, because good men 
and brave have fought under it for my country; 
good and brave men are fighting under it to-day. 

But most of all, I love and reverence the American 
flag because it has always stood for right and freedom. 
It has never led an unjust cause, or waved above a 
stolen land. 

It was born in freedom and honor, it has led many 
battles for freedom and honor, and it flies above 
a country which is fighting to-day for the freedom 
and honor of the world. 

The flags of many countries have been taken out 
to war so that their rulers might take a piece of some 
other country, or might make a weaker country pay 
them money. 

The flag of America has never been stained by 
such a war. 

With God's help, I, as a citizen of America, will 



24 I AM AN AMERICAN 

keep it as clean as now. So far as I can help, it shall 
never be raised over a war for gain or cruelty, but 
only to protect the freedom and honor of men. I will 
guard it, I will fight for it, I will love it, for it has 
earned my love and loyalty. 



: j +"' '!•!• 






DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 



VIII 

THE American flag was born in freedom and 
honor in the War of the American Revolution. 
That was a hard and bitter time. The people who 
gave us this country had to pay a big price for that 
freedom and honor. 

These people were colonists, that is settlers and 
the descendants of settlers. They had a new land to 
take care of, with fierce Indians on every side. They 
had rough work to do and much trouble to bear. But 



26 I AM AN AMERICAN 

they were a strong people and made the best of what 
they could not help. Winter and loneliness and hard 
work they took cheerfully. 

But something came into their lives that no true 
man or woman takes cheerfully. That was tyranny. 
The colonists were governed in England. The English 
Government of that time, with King George III at 
its head, was selfish and unwise. It began to treat 
the American colonists not as free men, but as slaves. 
It tried to get all it could in taxes and service from 
them, but it gave them no rights in return. 

When the colonists sent letters to explain what was 
wrong, the Government paid no attention. The laws 
grew more unfair and the taxes grew heavier, and 
yet the Americans had no part in making the laws 
or spending the taxes. 

Wise Englishmen in England went to the Govern- 
ment and said, "Englishmen will not bear such treat- 
ment, these colonists are Englishmen; beware!" But 
the Government of King George III went from bad 
to worse. 

Among the colonists were many able men, used to 
thinking for themselves. They said, "We will not 
obey the laws unless we have a part in making the 
laws. We will not pay taxes unless we have a part in 



DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 27 

deciding the taxes. Taxation without representation is 
tyranny." 

Those words are important; they are a "principle 
of free government." 

The colonists believed this principle so firmly that 
they got ready to fight against England, to make 
her give them representation. But soon they saw 
that they would be risking their lives in war to get 
only a little bit of freedom. So they decided to fight 
for real freedom. They decided to make America a 
free country, not a colony at all. 

The wisest men of the country got together and 
made a Declaration of Independence. It was written 
by Thomas Jefferson, and was adopted by Congress 
July 4, 1776. When it was read out to the people, 
the great bell in the steeple of the Philadelphia City 
Hall rang loud and long. Ever since we have called 
this the Liberty Bell. 

The Declaration of Independence is famous all 
over the world to-day. We must all read it and be 
able to tell about it. We cannot join the Girl Scouts 
or the Boy Scouts until we can tell all about it. 

The Declaration of Independence said that Amer- 
ica should be a free country, making its own laws and 
governing itself. It should have all the rights of a 



28 I AM AN AMERICAN 

free country, and if any country interfered it would 
fight for those rights. It should be called the United 
States of America. 

In every country there were men and women who 
wanted to be free, but who were helpless against their 
strong governments. Even to speak of freedom often 
sent them to prison or death. 

When they heard of the American Declaration of 
Independence, it was like a new star in a dark sky, a 
new music in a silent land. The sound of the Liberty 
Bell rang round the world. 

Let us thank God, as these men thanked him, for 
the American Declaration of Independence. Let us 
as children learn to say the brave, solemn words 
with which it begins, and believe them with all our 
hearts. 

"We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all 
men are created equal, that they are endowed by their 
creator with certain unalienable rights, that among 
these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." 



s 



.•••*'•'••!.»*■•*• ••": 




IX 

ENGLAND sent an army to get back her colo- 
nies. And the colonists fought. Eight long 
years the war went on. The English Government 
sent more than fifty thousand soldiers to fight the 
Americans. That was a large army for those days, i 
But more than half the soldiers were not English- 
men. Englishmen did not want to fight against the 
English colonists, whose cause was so just. So George 
III hired twenty thousand German troops from their 



30 I AM AN AMERICAN 

masters, and these Germans crossed the ocean under 
English leaders. 

We may be sure these poor German soldiers did not 
want to fight against us. They had to go where they 
were sent. They belonged to their German masters, 
for in Germany the government was like what we 
read of in Lesson II. 

But the Germans were trained soldiers, and they 
were told many false stories about Americans, to 
make them willing to fight. They made a hard army 
to beat. 

The war was fought all up and down our American 
coast, in battles North and battles South, by land 
and sea. We have wonderful stories about it in the 
histories we shall read in a few years. 

The English soldiers fought well from a sense of 
duty. But that was a weak feeling compared with 
what the Americans were fighting for. To the Ameri- 
cans their liberty was as dear as the air they breathed 
and the homes they loved. Every American soldier 
fought for liberty with all his heart. 

A righteous cause makes a mighty army, and in 
the American Revolution a great cause made a 
mighty army out of a small and untrained one. 

Next to the power of a great cause the war was 



THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION 31 

won by brains. The English had more men than 
the Americans, more ships, and more money. But 
the Americans had some of the ablest generals any 
country has ever had, and the American soldiers 
fought with their hearts and heads as well as with 
guns. 

As we all know, the American Commander-in- 
Chief was George Washington. With him were other 
men of the same splendid kind from North and 
South. Philip Schuyler was there, and John Stark, 
Anthony Wayne, and Henry Lee, who used to be 
called "Light Horse Harry." Our teachers will tell 
us where to find exciting stories about these men, 
and Washington's other leaders. 

George Washington and these able commanders 
knew very well the big English army could beat the 
little American army if they stood up face to face and 
shot at each other. But they were not so silly as to 
do that. No, they kept leading the English into 
traps, in parts of the country only the Americans 
knew about. They fooled the English generals, and 
fought when they were in a good position. When 
they were in a bad position they got away while the 
English slept. 

More than once the English thought the war was 



32 I AM AN AMERICAN 

over, and that Washington was beaten, only to wake 
up next morning and find themselves in a new trap. 
They called Washington a fox. Indeed, he had all 
the cleverness of a fox, with the courage of a lion. 

Little by little he wore the English generals out. 
He beat them in one place after another, until at 
last he beat them for good. 

But the Americans came near losing, more than 
once. It was not because they had a small army and 
little money. It was because of treason ! 

A false friend, an Englishman who pretended to 
be a friend of Liberty, was made an American general, 
and he planned to betray the American army to the 
enemy. His name was Charles Lee. He failed. 

Worse than a false friend, one of the American 
leaders, a truly fine soldier who had fought bravely, 
turned traitor through anger and jealousy. His name 
was Benedict Arnold. He too failed. But both nearly 
succeeded. 

There is no enemy so deadly as a false friend, and 
no danger so great as treason. Treason means turn- 
ing against your own country in secret, and plotting 
with the enemy so that they may win. A man who 
plans treason betrays his country as Judas betrayed 
Jesus. 



THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION 33 

Washington had to struggle against treason. And 
in the war of 1917 our President and our generals 
had to struggle against it. Many false friends and 
some base traitors were working in America during 
that war. 

As American children let us pray that our country 
may forever be delivered from treason as she was in 
the Revolutionary War. Let us pray that no Ameri- 
can shall yield to the temptation of enemy gold, or 
enemy flattery, and so leave his name blackened for 
all the centuries to come, as Benedict Arnold's was 
blackened. 




X 

THE Stars and Stripes, the flag born in freedom 
and honor, were raised for the first time over the 
Capitol of the new country in 1789. They flew for 
the first President of the United States of America, 
George Washington. 

George Washington was the General of the little 
American army that won the war, as we know. And 
when the war was over the people knew they could 
find no other man so fitted to lead them in their new 



OUR FIRST PRESIDENT 35 

life as Americans. So General Washington became 
President Washington, and he was as fine a Presi- 
dent as he had been General. He was so wise and 
noble a President that he is called "the Father of 
his Country." 

Some of the best stories in American history are 
the stories of George Washington as a boy. We all 
read them. There is a good story about his riding a 
colt, and there are fine stories about his fighting the 
Indians. 

Even as a boy George Washington was the soul of 
honor; he said what was true, and kept his word. No 
one could frighten him into a trick or a lie. 

He was brought up on a large plantation, and was 
taught to manage his workmen, and to master him- 
self. He had a good education, both in books and in 
living. His mother was a fine wise gentlewoman, and 
their home was very beautiful. 

All the good things American mothers and fathers 
wish for their children were his; a healthy outdoor 
life, study and play, money enough, home love, and 
high ideals. When the time came that his country 
needed him he had this true wealth to give: health, 
wisdom, ability, and character. And he put them all 
at his country's service. 



36 I AM AN AMERICAN 

George Washington was able to solve the hard 
problems of the War of the Revolution. He was also 
able to solve the problems of a new kind of govern- 
ment. That was very hard, for the men in the 
government were all new at governing, and all had 
their own ideas. Rut the President was very, very 
wise; he always saw what must be done. And he 
was firm as a rock; he was a tower of strength. 

All the world says that George Washington was 
one of the ablest generals in history, and one of the 
great statesmen of the world. 

America is very fortunate that her first President 
was a truly great man. Some countries have for their 
first hero only a fighter. Rut George Washington was 
a great general, a great statesman, and a very good 
and modest man besides. He was "first in war, first 
in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." 

As American children we may be proud that our 
country was fathered, not by a robber or a tyrant, 
but by a true Christian, a great American gentleman. 



'v • 




/ • '■■ 







BUILDERS OF THE NATION 




XI 

THE Stars and Stripes could never have floated 
over a free country if America had had only one 
great man. George Washington was not the only 
brave and able man who served us well. There were 
so many splendid Americans that not even when we 
read history can we know them all. But we shall 
read interesting stories of many of them. 

Each one gave his own gift to Freedom. The wise 
gave wisdom in planning. Those who had the gift of 



38 I AM AN AMERICAN 

speech, like Patrick Henry, fired the courage of the 
others. Those who had military genius led the armies, 
and those whose best gift was obedience made the 
mighty army to be led. Washington was helped in 
winning the war by some of the best commanders in 
history. It is thrilling to read how they took the 
English by surprise, over and over again, and made 
the best of their small numbers by using the land right. 

Some of these commanders were as young as our 
brothers who went every day in 1918 from the 
American camps to France. American boys must all 
read the stories of George Rogers Clark and of Paul 
Jones, who were hardly more than boys, but who 
fought wonderfully. 

Washington was helped also in making the Consti- 
tution, the plan of our Government, by many wise 
and unselfish men. We shall read about James Madi- 
son and Alexander Hamilton and many others. 

Alexander Hamilton had a hard task. He was the 
Secretary of the Treasury, and there was little money 
in the Treasury, and there were many different ideas 
about spending it. But Hamilton taught the little 
new country how it must manage its money affairs 
if it wanted to be respected by other countries. He 
did notable service. 



THE BUILDERS OF THE NATION 39 

When we read about all these men, and the others 
who came after them, we find one truly American 
quality in all. They all had much "common sense." 
Americans have clear brains. They see things as they 
are, and think of the right thing to do. Washington 
was one of the most sensible men of his day, and 
Benjamin Franklin was another. To be sensible and 
honorable is the beginning of greatness. 

So the beginnings of our country were made by 
many men, all together, under a great leader whom 
they had chosen and whom they followed. They all 
had the same hope, to live in a free country. They 
all had the same faith, that God helps a righteous 
cause. They all had the same purpose, to serve the 
common cause with all their strength, and to die for 
it if need be. 

That is a true democracy. That is what a republic 
should be. Sensible and honorable people work to- 
gether under leaders chosen by themselves. They 
obey these leaders and follow them, not because they 
are forced, but because the leaders are their own 
representatives, doing the will of the people. 

If all America forever holds fast to this first Ameri- 
can way of thinking, we shall conquer all enemies as 
we conquered the enemy of that day. Let us pra^ 



40 I AM AN AMERICAN 

that America may remain a sensible and honorable 
people, not led into evil by folly, but choosing wise 
leaders and following them. Let us all be eager to 
serve our country, and even to die for her if need be. 

Little American citizens must use their common 
sense with all their might, so that it will grow into real 
brain power. To be foolish is to be always in danger 
of being led into evil; to be sensible is to be ready to 
lead others out of danger. 

We little citizens must follow the leaders chosen 
for us by our fathers and mothers. We must learn as 
children to be unselfish and obedient, so that when 
the time comes for us to serve greatly, we may serve 
with nobility as Washington served. 



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FRIENDS OF LIBERTY 



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XII 

WHEN the Declaration of Independence thrilled 
the hearts of men who loved freedom, and 
the Liberty Bell rang for America's freedom, it was 
heard round the world, and it made friends for the 
Americans all over Europe. Patrick Henry had said, 
"There is a just God who presides over the destinies 
of nations; and who will raise up friends to fight our 
battles for us." 
Patrick Henry was right. Glorious, unselfish 



42 I AM AN AMERICAN 

friends were raised up for America, men who sailed 
from Europe, sword in hand, to battle for Liberty 
with us. These men had nothing to gain for them- 
selves. They were not Americans. They risked for- 
tune and life itself to fight with men they had never 
seen, against an enemy they had never seen. 

Why? 

Because, oh, children, let us never forget, the love 
of liberty is a great and sacred love, the faith in man's 
brotherhood is a great and sacred faith. The noblest 
men of the world have been willing to die for it. It 
is greater than the love of power or the fear of 
death. It is a part of man's religion. 

The unselfish heroes who sailed from Europe to 
fight with the Americans against England showed us 
that other men believed in freedom and democracy; 
other men also could say, "Give me Liberty or give 
me death." 

Let us remember the names of these men, and be 
grateful to their memories. Freedom has no race; 
she is of all races. Where the love of Freedom burns 
in the heart, all men are of one family. These men 
came from different countries to strike a blow for us, 
and what they did shows the natural brotherhood of 
free peoples. 



FRIENDS OF LIBERTY 43 

We have all heard of Lafayette. He was a French 
nobleman, a young French gentleman of wealth and 
a brilliant mind. The Marquis of Lafayette was not 
twenty; he was as young as the American college 
boys who were ambulance drivers in France in 1916 
and 1917. He bought a ship and fitted it up with his 
own fortune, and sailed to America. And here he 
offered his services as a volunteer without pay. 

When we think of the service Lafayette did us, we 
must also think of the Americans who have gone to 
serve his country in her hour of need. When the 
freedom of France was attacked by Germany in 1914, 
many young American men did not wait for America 
to join the war. They went to France at their own 
expense, and said to the French Government, as 
Lafayette had said, "We will serve as volunteers 
without pay." 

Many of these young men were in the Lafayette 
Escadrille, the famous flying corps of Americans 
serving for France. 

Not all these American heroes have come back to 
their own country, as Lafayette happily went back 
to his. Some died across the sea, for Freedom's sake. 
One of the first and bravest of them said, just before 
he died, "I pay my debt to Lafayette." 



44 I AM AN AMERICAN 

These are noble and beautiful words, and many of 
the other young American soldiers have said noble 
and beautiful words for us to remember. Our teachers 
will find for us some of the poems written by these 
young Americans who are paying our debt to Lafayette. 

From another country, Poland, came two more men 
noble of heart and title. They were named Kosciusko 
and Pulaski. They, too, offered their swords to free- 
dom on American soil. They had reason to love free- 
dom, for Poland had been taken away from her own 
people by stronger countries around her, and had 
been divided among them. Polish people no longer 
ruled themselves. 

When we think of Kosciusko and Pulaski, we like 
to remember that America began to pay her debt to 
Poland when she entered the Great War in 1917. 
America promised to defend the rights of small 
nations against tyranny. Poland's freedom was one 
of those rights which the Allies were fighting for. 

From Germany also came friends of Liberty. 
Johann Kalb, born in Bavaria, but later belonging to 
the French Army, came with Lafayette to fight for 
us. He gave his life for American liberty on American 
soil. And a Prussian officer named Von Steuben 
helped Washington drill his army at Valley Forge. 



FRIENDS OF LIBERTY 45 

When America entered the war against Germany, 
President Wilson remembered the love of liberty in 
these men and in our many devoted citizens of Ger- 
man birth, like Carl Schurz, who worked all his life 
for American patriotism. He said, "We have no 
quarrel with the German people. We have no feeling 
toward them but one of sympathy and friendship." 

He meant that we were fighting, not to kill Ger- 
many, but to kill the tyranny that the German 
Government stood for. Many friends of the German 
people believed with him that our victory would set 
the German people free from tyranny, and bring 
them at last to the very freedom and brotherhood 
their armies were trying to destroy. 




XIII 

THE American flag, the Red, White, and Blue, 
still keeps the color of England in its red stripes, 
although the white stripes come between to show that 
this country separated from England. 

In the same way America keeps the old English 
color in the ideals of her men and women. We must 
never forget that most of the people who helped to 
found this country were of English blood. Before the 
time of the Revolution, and before the coming of the 



OUR FIRST IDEALS 47 

other races, the English had begun to make our 
country what it is. Those first settlers and colonists 
were English, with a smaller number from Holland. 

George Washington was of English blood. Samuel 
Adams and John Hancock were of English blood. 
Philip Schuyler was of Dutch blood. 

Although the English Government was false and 
weak, and fought against us, English love of liberty 
and English strength of character was true and 
powerful, and conquered in us. The English in Eng- 
land were also struggling for liberty, but they had to 
move more slowly because England was a very old 
country, and had many old ways to change. 

English ways of thinking and living were the first 
American ways of thinking and living, and the char- 
acter of the English is still in the character of Amer- 
icans. 

All over the world, English, Dutch, and American 
people are clean people, independent people, and 
people that love fair play. All over the world, Eng- 
lish and American people keep their bodies and minds 
clean. All over the world, English and American 
people say, "We will think for ourselves, no one shall 
think for us." 

We shall see that many other races brought their 



48 I AM AN AMERICAN 

gifts of mind and heart to America later. But the 
foundation stone of American character was laid by 
the English. 

I am proud to remember that my country was 
founded by people who loved cleanness, honor, and 
fair play. Fair play is justice, and justice is the very 
first stone in the building of a republic. I will do my 
best to keep the American Republic true to her first 
ideals of justice and honor. 

As an American child, I will tell the truth and keep 
my word. I will keep my body clean. I will not take 
advantage of a smaller child, or cheat in games, but I 
will play fair. I will be a true American. 





MY a NOTHEKS * FLAG 



XIV 

THE American flag, the Stars and Stripes, was 
made by a woman. Her name was Mrs. Eliza- 
beth Ross, and her friends called her Betsy Ross. She 
made the first flag for General George Washington, 
the first President of the United States of America. 

Men and women together are citizens of the Ameri- 
can Republic, our United States. Together they 
work for the good of the country, and are equally 
valuable. The flag belongs to both. 



50 I AM AN AMERICAN 

In the past all countries have thought women were 
not so valuable as men, and they have not given 
women an equal chance to be free and useful. But 
now most of the countries are learning that men and 
women are equally valuable, and must have equal 
rights. The Great War has taught this, for in all 
countries the women have worked and suffered with 
the men. 

In Russia the soldiers were worn out with fighting 
against an enemy better armed than they. The 
Russian army was cheated by its own Government, 
and did not have ammunition enough to shoot. At 
last the soldiers became discouraged and many 
would not fight. 

When the Russian women saw that Germany was 
going to conquer their country, a brave woman 
named Madame Botchkareva called on her sisters to 
become soldiers with her. Hundreds of Russian 
women and young girls came to her and formed them- 
selves into a battalion. They were drilled, and fought 
bravely against the enemy. They were called the 
"Battalion of Death," because each woman soldier 
gave her word to her commander that she would con- 
quer or die. Each carried a little bottle of poison to 
take if she was captured. 



MY MOTHER'S FLAG 51 

These Russian women surely did as much for 
Russia as any man. 

British women have given a shining example of 
heroism in the war. One Scotch woman doctor, Dr. 
Elsie Ingles, will not soon be forgotten. She had 
been taking care of a whole village of sick Serbian 
soldiers. Suddenly the German army came nearer, 
and all the wounded soldiers were in danger. 

Dr. Ingles got them out of the country. She led 
those thousands of Serbian men on a march of months, 
out of Roumania, across Russia, way up to the north- 
ern port of Archangel, and at last got them on ships 
across to England. She found food for them, she found 
roads for them, she nursed them when they were sick, 
and encouraged them when they were in despair. 

When her little army reached England, Dr. Ingles 
was so worn out that she died after a week's illness. 
But those eight thousand Serbian soldiers were able 
to go to France, to fight for England and Freedom! 
Surely no British man did more for his country than 
Elsie Ingles did. 

France has many women who have done noble and 
heroic work in the war. Books of stories are being 
made about them. One young French girl did some- 
thing which sounds like a fairy tale. 



52 I AM AN AMERICAN 

This young girl's name is Marcelle. She lived in a 
small French town before the war. Her father owned 
large quarries there, and she had always played about 
the passageways and underground chambers. 

The little town was taken by the Germans. Mar- 
celle's father was killed; every one she knew was 
either killed or got away from the village. 

But Marcelle would not run away. She knew that 
many French soldiers were hurt in different parts of 
the village, so she hid herself in the underground 
passageways, and at night she went out and found 
the hurt soldiers, and nursed them. She got ever so 
many safely into her quarries, where she took care 
of them. Then she helped them escape out of the 
village. 

Twice the Germans caught her. Twice they had 
her standing before their firing squad, to be shot. But 
both times the French gunners got near to the village 
just in time to frighten the firing party. 

At last the French took the village again, and she 
was safe. 

The French Government asked Marcelle to come 
to Paris, to a famous hall, to be decorated for service 
to her country. The grand hall was full of famous 
soldiers and people from all parts of the country. 



MY MOTHER'S FLAG 53 

Every one stood up, and all the soldiers saluted the 
modest little French girl when she walked up to be 
decorated. They knew that no man could have been 
braver or more unselfish for France than she was. 

When America entered the war the young men 
came forward and said, "We will fight, send us." 
Their sisters came forward and said, " We will serve, 
send us." For every need of a woman that the Gov- 
ernment or the Red Cross or the Y.M.C.A. had, 
there was a woman ready. They have served with 
hands and hearts and brains, and some of them have 
served with their lives. 

When I grow up to be a voting American citizen 
I will try always to be fair to both men and women. 
I want the Stars and Stripes, which were first made 
by a woman, to float over a country where women 
and men together are free and equal. 



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■'.•■' : «* 







UNION AND LIBERTY 




XV 

THE American flag, the Stars and Stripes, has 
not been easy to keep clean and safe. Every- 
thing that is very precious has to be worked and 
fought for all the time. Even liberty cannot be got 
once for all and then left alone. 

The liberty of the American Republic has had to be 
fought for again since the first time. The first time was 
the War of the American Revolution, as we have seen. 
The next time was the American Civil War, in 1861. 

Sometimes a nation is attacked by outside enemies, 



UNION AND LIBERTY 55 

but sometimes enemies grow up inside the nation. If 
the citizens grow selfish or get false ideas, they can 
become the most dangerous enemies of all. 

This happened in our country. Some of the States 
said that liberty meant that every State could decide 
all things for itself, and need not obey the Federal 
Government. These States said also that their citi- 
zens had a right to keep black men as slaves to work 
for them. So in the midst of the country that had 
once fought for freedom, men were keeping other 
men out of every kind of freedom. 

The United States of America said: "We are not 
many separate countries; we are one country. Every 
State must obey the Federal Government." And the 
United States of America also said: "This is a free 
country, no man shall own or control another man, 
black or white." 

So the Civil War was fought, to decide whether the 
United States should remain one country or not, and 
whether every man in the country should be free or not. 

The Federal Government — that is, the United 
States of America — won the war. A free and united 
country was once more bought for us by the suffer- 
ing of other people. 

We must always remember that our freedom de- 



56 I AM AN AMERICAN 

pends on unity. A lot of separate selfish States can 
be robbed or spoiled like a lot of weak and selfish 
children. A union of free States, working each for 
all and all for each, is a mighty Nation, unconquered, 
and truly free. 

We must always remember, too, that no one is free 
if all are not free. If one citizen is abused, any citizen 
may be abused. As an American child I will learn 
carefully what "Union and Liberty" mean, and will 
keep in my heart the love of this country, which gives 
me both. 

"When I am a voting citizen, I will protect with all 
my might the sacred unity of this Nation, and the 
sacred liberty of all its citizens. 




XVI 

THE Civil War, that kept our Stars and Stripes 
the flag of a united country, gave America a 
great hero, Abraham Lincoln. 

The Nation remembers other heroes of that sad 
hard time. General Grant was the chief commander 
who won the war for us. A great soldier and a splen- 
did man he was. We honor his memory. And many 
others there were, brave and wise and unselfish. 
But Abraham Lincoln is America's hero in a pecu- 



58 I AM AN AMERICAN 

liar way. His character is an example of ideal democ- 
racy; his thoughts and beliefs are the thoughts and 
beliefs that America herself lives by. 

A good way to know what America is and wants 
to be, is to study the life of Abraham Lincoln. The 
best answer to any person who calls us a nation of 
money-lovers is to say: "We are the Nation that 
follows Abraham Lincoln." 

When we read the life of Lincoln we find that he 
was well used to trouble. Hard things he had to do 
and bear all his life long. Never was anything made 
easy for him. No child in America to-day sleeps as 
cold as Lincoln did, or eats such poor food as Lincoln 
did in childhood ; no child in America to-day has to 
go without schooling and books, as he did. 

But hard things only made Lincoln strong to bear 
burdens. To have no books only made him more 
eager to learn. Sorrow only made him kind. 

Poor and lonely and untaught, he built up a grand 
manhood, and the things he built on were the things 
that every man may have: they were faith in God, 
absolute honesty, patience to learn, and charity to 
all men. 

When Lincoln became President he was so wise 
that the finest scholars of the country were glad 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 59 

to learn from him. He had got his wisdom by pa- 
tient study of the best books, and by patient close 
thinking. 

Besides wisdom, he had splendid courage. It was 
a time like our time now, when people disagree about 
everything, and every public man has bitter enemies. 
Lincoln was slow to decide, because he could see so 
well just how other people felt about things, but 
when he had decided what was right, he did it, al- 
though all the world seemed against him. 

But most of all, Lincoln had great charity, great 
kindness. This never failed, even when the world 
was most unkind to him. He was kind to all people, 
friends and enemies both. He was kind to animals 
and even to plants. 

When little children wanted to see him in a crowd, 
he stopped on his busy way and shook hands with 
them. When the soldiers of the Union lay dying in 
hospitals, he took time from his never-ending work 
to sit with them and to write to their mothers. When 
at last the Union conquered, and the question came, 
"What shall be done to the States that made the 
trouble?" Lincoln said, "They have suffered enough; 
let us remember the command of Scripture, 'Judge 
not that ye be not judged.'" 



60 I AM AN AMERICAN 

Abraham Lincoln is the representative of democ- 
racy, our true American hero. He was wise, sincere, 
powerful, and kind. He was of the people and for the 
people, like the Government he believed in and up- 
held. He had no special privilege; he wanted nothing 
for himself that all men might not have. He was a 
great American. 




XVII 

BECAUSE Abraham Lincoln was wise and sin- 
cere, he knew that nations like persons make 
mistakes. Good nations sometimes sin against the 
laws of God. He knew that when a nation sins 
against the laws of God, it must suffer, just as each 
of us suffers for sin. 

The American Nation had sinned against the 
Divine laws of Brotherhood and Freedom when it 
allowed slavery. It suffered deeply in the Civil War, 
which almost tore it apart. But the good in the heart 



62 I AM AN AMERICAN 

of the American Nation overcame the evil, and put 
the wrong thing away. 

Abraham Lincoln knew that the American Nation 
had sinned and was sorry. And because he was wise 
and sincere, he said that the Nation must do what a 
person has to do when he has done wrong. The 
Nation must ask God's forgiveness. 

The United States Senate passed a resolution ask- 
ing the President to set apart a day for national 
prayer and penitence. Lincoln did this, and April 30, 
1863, was made a day of fasting and prayer. 

Almost everything that Abraham Lincoln wrote is 
very beautiful. This proclamation is so beautiful and 
true that we understand America better if we read 
and understand it. Let us ask mother or teacher to 
read these sentences out loud to us, and explain the 
hard words. This is only part of the proclamation: — 

"It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own 
their dependence upon the overruling power of God; 
to confess their sins and transgressions in humble 
sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance 
will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the 
sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and 
proven by all history, that those nations only are 
blessed whose God is the Lord. . . . 

"We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties 
of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, 



A DAY OF PRAYER 63 

in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, 
wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown; 
but we have forgotten God. . . . 

"It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before 
the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and 
to pray for clemency and forgiveness. ..." 

The spirit of these words is the spirit of America, 
the spirit of real democracy. 

A democracy is ruled by all the people together, 
the every-day people. The every-day people are not 
perfect, they make mistakes. But they are not so 
foolish as to think they are perfect. When they have 
made a mistake, they are willing to say so and to 
start again. When they find they have made a poor 
law, they are willing to change it. For the every- 
day people love goodness. They want things to be 
right. 

This is one of the best things about a democracy. 
We can change the bad things, we can keep on im- 
proving our country. In history we find that a ruling 
class does not often repent, or try to change its mis- 
takes. But a people does. 

There are two big lessons for us to learn from 
America's Day of Prayer. First, we must be honest 
and wise about our Government. It may make mis- 
takes and do things to be sorry for. All good citizens 



64 I AM AN AMERICAN 

must watch for these things, and no one must say 
we are perfect. 

Second, when we are grown up, it will be our duty 
and privilege to help the American Republic to grow 
steadily better, to become more nearly the perfect 
ideal of a free country. 

Just as she is, we believe that America is the hap- 
piest country in the world. But we are glad with all 
our hearts that her people have the power to make 
her ever better. 






ft 





AMERICANS^ • ALL 




XVIII 

THE Stars and Stripes, the "flag of the free," 
were kept safe and clean in the Civil War, as we 
have seen, and a land of liberty was once more 
bought for us, by sacrifice. 

In this second war for Liberty, the men who fought 
under the Star-Spangled Banner, and the women 
who worked and suffered for it, were not of English 
or Dutch blood alone. They were Americans of 
many races, French, German, Irish, Italian, Swedish, 



66 I AM AN AMERICAN 

and other races. For after the English and Dutch, 
had come families from all over Europe to settle in 
the United States of America. 

Every family that came here came because it 
wanted to live in a country which had given its 
people the right to govern themselves. These Ger- 
man, Italian, French, and Scandinavian people came 
because of the Declaration of Independence, and 
because of the Revolutionary War. 

The descendants of these families fought for the 
Union in the Civil War because they were true 
Americans. They knew what liberty was worth, and 
they knew that union was the only way to keep it. 

The love of liberty is in the hearts of all men 
everywhere. Sometimes it is buried deep under fear, 
or love of ease, or love of gain, but it is always 
there. 

We Americans are not the only people who have 
fought for it. The people of France and Switzerland 
fought for it and gained it. The people of Russia have 
fought again and again for it, and are fighting still to 
gain it. The people of Germany fought for liberty 
in the Revolution of 1848, and when they lost it 
many of them came to this country. Their descend- 
ants inherit the same love of freedom as our own 



AMERICANS ALL 67 

Revolutionary descendants, and they have made 
splendid American citizens. 

English people have never ceased to strive for 
liberty, and although they did not make a revolution 
like the Americans, they gradually got their liberty 
through small changes in government. They still 
have a king and they still have people who are called 
lords and dukes. But England has to-day a largely 
representative popular government. 

Italy also fought many battles for freedom and 
often lost. But Italy also to-day has a representative 
government, although she, too, still has a king. 

The word "democracy" means a government by 
the people, and a republic is the most thorough democ- 
racy there is. But we also call a country a democracy 
if its people are truly represented in the Government, 
and really manage their own business, even if the 
country is not a republic. England and Italy feel 
that they are democracies just as France and America 
do. They have the spirit of democracy. 

Sometime, we believe, all people will gain liberty 
and the whole world will be a brotherhood of free 
nations. 

But we Americans are the most fortunate of all, 
because America gained it first, and has kept it. 



68 I AM AN AMERICAN 

America is the "land of the free and the home of the 
brave." Let us work and pray to keep her that. 

We owe this great blessing of liberty to the courage 
and sacrifice of Americans of all races. It is for us all, 
whether we are of English, Irish, French, German, 
Italian, or any other blood. And all of us, of every 
blood, must fight for it when it is threatened, just as 
it was fought for in the Revolution and in the Civil 
War. Washington and Lincoln belong to us all, and 
we must be true to them. 

As a loyal American child, I will not listen to any 
evil spoken of my country. And I will be kind to 
every other loyal American child, no matter what his 
blood may be. 




XIX 

THE country saved for us by Americans of all 
races in the Civil War was already large and im- 
portant. It quickly became more so. People from all 
over the whole world came in ever greater numbers 
to become American citizens. And our oldest citizens 
were busy making the country more easily reached in 
every part. From then until now the United States 
has grown steadily in people, power, and opportu- 
nity. Our inheritance has been increasing for us. 



70 I AM AN AMERICAN 

That inheritance is a wonderful one. We have seen 
how wonderful it is in patriotic wisdom, sacrifice, 
and courage. It is equally wonderful in the gifts of 
the land itself. 

The American flag is sometimes called the "Star- 
Spangled Banner," because Francis Keyes called it 
that in the song which we all sing. Every flag means 
something, the pattern tells some story. The stars 
on our Star-Spangled Banner tell the story of our 
States. Every star stands for a State, and on the 
Fourth of July each year a new star is added to the 
flag if a new State has been added to the Union. 

There are forty-eight stars on the flag. That means 
there are forty-eight States in the United States. 
Forty-eight States make a very, very big country. 
The United States of America stretches from one 
ocean to the other. Its western shore is washed by 
the Pacific Ocean, and its eastern shore meets the 
Atlantic. It is a long journey from its northern to its 
southern border. 

Some of the forty-eight States are so warm that 
cotton and oranges grow there. Some are so cold that 
the ice is many feet thick all winter. Every kind of 
useful food grows in our country, and all the things 
we need to build with are found here. 



RICHEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD 71 

Some countries have to send away for things that 
grow in hot lands, or things that grow in cold lands. 
Some countries are so small that they have to send 
away for grain, or lumber, or wool. But America is so 
big and has so many different climates that all the 
things we need grow in her States. 

This makes the United States of America a very 
rich country. It is now called the richest country in 
the world. 

It is a privilege to belong to the richest country in 
the world. It means that every citizen has a chance 
to get honestly all that he needs to make him happy 
and successful. 

But we must remember that the richest country 
can be made poor if the citizens do not learn how to 
take care of its riches, just as a family can become 
poor if its children waste money. 

Let us keep America rich. Let us learn how to use 
things without wasting them. As loyal American 
children, let us learn how to use wise economy, so 
that the Star-Spangled Banner may always float 
over the richest country in the world. 




XX 

THE forty-eight States of our Union are like the 
rooms of a marvelous treasure-house. And all 
the treasures in all the forty-eight rooms are guarded 
by the Star-Spangled Banner. 

It waves in the dry, prairie wind of the Dakotas 
and Minnesota, where golden grain ripples like the 
waves of a vast sea. It flutters over the States of the 
Rocky Mountains, where gold and silver and iron 
are mined by great machines all day long. 



AMERICA'S TREASURES 73 

It flies over the States of the middle plains, where 
so much corn is raised that we call it the "corn belt." 
It brightens the air over vast coal-fields in the States 
of the eastern mountains. 

It blows above the white cotton-fields of the South 
and the wonderful fruit ranches of South and West. 
In Texas it sees the mighty herds of cattle that supply 
food for millions of people. 

Oh, what wonderful things the Stars and Stripes 
protect! Forests of timber; mountains of rich ore; 
millions of miles of fruit and grain; deep harbors full 
of strong, swift ships; giant cities full of factories and 
stores; seas, lakes, and rivers full of fish. 

We do not often think how many gifts America 
has that no other country has so much of. There are 
many ways in which the United States is the richest 
country in the world. 

America is the greatest farming country in the 
world. She raises the most corn, the most fruit, and 
the most cotton of all countries, and next to the most 
wheat. America is also the greatest fish country and 
the greatest meat country; the largest cattle ranch 
in the world is in Texas. America has the most coal 
and the most iron of any country. 

America manufactures the most steel and iron of 



74 I AM AN AMERICAN 

any country. She makes the best telephones, the 
best telegraphs, the best railroad beds and railroad 
cars in the world. There are more miles of railroad in 
this country than in any other, and more automo- 
biles in this country than in all the other countries 
together. 

These are only a few of the riches our Mother 
America provides. The great family of the American 
Republic is a very fortunate family. Its home is big 
enough and rich enough for all its children. 

We are glad and thankful that we live in America. 
It is good to have clean homes, with running water 
and pleasant light, warmed in winter and airy in 
summer. It is good to have electric cars and trains 
and motors. It is pleasant to have good things to eat 
and comfortable, pretty clothes to wear. Grown-up 
people who have traveled all over the world to the 
other countries tell us that only the richest people in 
other lands have the comforts that most Americans 
have. 

Reing glad and thankful, we are all going to be 
more careful of our riches than we were before we 
thought about it, and more generous in sharing them. 

Some of us are new children of America. Some of 
us have come poor to our new home. Until we know 



AMERICA'S TREASURES 75 

English well and know how best to be useful, we 
cannot get all we want of the good things here. What 
are we going to do? 

We are going to learn as fast as we can in America's 
schools. We are going to keep our homes and our- 
selves as clean as we can because that is the American 
way. We are going to take all the helps America gives 
and use them; the playgrounds, the community 
houses, the libraries, and the advice of older citizens. 
Soon we shall have better clothes, better homes, and 
better food. Soon we shall understand more what it 
is to be an American. 

And always we will love America with all our 
hearts and believe in her democracy. Her democracy 
means brotherhood, opportunity, and service. We 
will not be like the little pigs who eat, and give no 
thanks, and share nothing. We can serve even while 
we are small, by giving our loyalty and obedience. 
The hearts of honest and kind citizens are America's 
greatest possessions. Not selfishly, but all for all, we 
will be citizens of the richest country in the world. 



'*•'•:>-. 



••-' J 




XXI 

THE Star-Spangled Banner floats over the forty- 
eight States which make the richest country in 
the world. And the same forty-eight States make the 
most beautiful country in the world. America is a 
land of beauty beyond telling. 

If this whole book were filled with stories of 

America's beautiful spots, it could not tell them all. 

We will only look at some especially wonderful things. 

When we go into the country for a happy time we 



THE MOST BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY 77 

always look for water. We know the seaside or a lake 
shore will be coolest and will give us most fun. All 
people since the world began have loved water and 
built their homes near it. The earth is loveliest where 
there is plenty of blue, clear water. 

America is greatly blessed with water. Our sea- 
coasts are so long that we could spend all the summers 
of our lives playing on different parts of the shore. 

Our rivers are many and varied. We have giant 
rivers, hundreds of miles long; we have rivers full of 
rushing waterfalls; we have little rivers, gentle and 
charming. 

And lakes — there never was such a country as 
ours, for lakes and ponds! First come the "Great 
Lakes," on our north. They are like smaller oceans, 
only not salt. Lake Superior is the biggest lake in the 
whole world. 

Then come all sizes of lakes, in forests and valleys 
and on mountains. If Daddy takes us on a camping 
trip through New England, there is not a night we 
cannot pitch tent by a lovely lake. Maine, New 
Hampshire, and Vermont are dotted over with gleam- 
ing lakes set in the deep green of forest and field. 
Wisconsin and Minnesota, west of the Mississippi, 
are also full of lake-jewels and forests. Florida has 



78 I AM AN AMERICAN 

silent, mysterious lakes where great tropical birds 
live and strange flowers grow. 

Of all the lakes in the world none are more beauti- 
ful than the mountain lakes of our Western National 
Parks. One of these is called Crater Lake. It is in 
Oregon, and it is the deepest and bluest lake in the 
world. Its sides are mountain cliffs a thousand feet 
high and its water is two thousand feet deep. Famous 
travelers say that the colors of sunrise and sunset 
over Crater Lake are the most wonderful views they 
have ever seen. 

Another wonderful mountain lake is Mirror Lake, 
in the State of Washington. Mirror Lake lies at the 
foot of mighty Mount Rainier, and between its blue 
waters and Mount Rainier's glaciers lie fifty miles so 
full of wild flowers that it is named Paradise Valley. 

Our Government has made a National Park around 
Crater Lake and around Mount Rainier, and takes 
care of these beautiful places for you and me. We can 
camp and play there all summer if our fathers can 
take us there. The National Parks are among the 
riches America gives her children. 

Besides water, people have always loved hills. 
Every country that has hills and mountains is glad 
of them. They are cooler than the plains, they let us 



THE MOST BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY 79 

see farther, and they are fair to look at. Far away 
they are blue like the sea, and near they are green 
and interesting. 

All up and down the east and west coast of the 
United States lie mountain ridges and big hills. And 
all about in parts of many States are smaller ridges 
and hills. 

Those in the West are magnificent, as we have seen 
from Mount Rainier. Those in the East are charming 
and inviting. If you can spend a summer in the 
Green Mountains of Vermont or the White Moun- 
tains of New Hampshire, you will have ponds to play 
by, woods to camp in, and farms to get eggs and milk 
from. 

These are just a few of the mountains and hills 
American boys and girls can climb and enjoy. It is 
nice to belong to a climbing club and take walks 
every Saturday if you live in a hilly country. The 
boys and girls of Switzerland make walking their 
national sport, and our American boys and girls like 
the same hardy outdoor life that Swiss children enjoy. 








XXII 

AS beautiful as hills, and as much loved by people 
of every land, are woods. We cannot even think 
of a world without trees. How baked with sun it would 
be in summer, how raked with wind in winter! No 
homes for the birds, no roofs of green to rest our eyes ! 
Some trees belong to us here in America especially. 
They were born here, and are not found in Europe 
except where some one has carried the seeds or the 
plants from here. 



BIG AND LITTLE BEAUTIES 81 

The oldest living thing and the biggest living thing 
in all the world grows in America. It is the Giant 
Sequoia, the biggest tree on earth. 

There are more than a million Sequoias in Califor- 
nia towering into the clouds so far that the tall forest 
around is like shrubbery beside them. 

These Sequoias are thousands of years old and 
they are still thriving and beautiful. When Jesus was 
born in Bethlehem of Judea, the baby animals in the 
Sequoia forests played around the same trees that we 
see growing there now. Before Jesus' birth, before 
the Old Testament was written, one of these Sequoia 
trees in California was a tall straight sapling. This 
one, the oldest of all living things, is called the 
" General Sherman Tree." 

After the Giant Sequoia, the king of our trees is 
the White Pine. King Pine holds his head in the sky 
so far above the rest of the forest that the other 
tree-tops seem like a floor beneath him. He flings 
his broad, flat branches out in big tents across the 
sky-line. Wherever he grows there is beauty. His 
needles make a spicy carpet in the woods, good to 
play on. 

The queen of our trees is the American Elm. New 
England children are brought up under its graceful, 



82 I AM AN AMERICAN 

arching branches. It is tall and graceful, and it makes 
cool shade by grassy roadsides. 

In the far Northwest the Douglas Spruce grows, 
a tall, vigorous evergreen. In the far Northeast the 
White and Red Spruces are just as beautiful, only 
smaller. And near these grows the "Pointed Fir," 
the Balsam. 

All the little children in America love the Sugar- 
Maple Tree, because it gives us the delicious maple- 
sugar and maple-syrup. It is one of the finest trees 
in our towns and woods. 

Nothing makes us more healthy and happy than 
to spend much time in the silent woods. We can find 
new flowers, we can build log cabins, we can watch 
for birds and rabbits and foxes. Every boy and girl 
who lives in the country ought to belong to a wood- 
craft club that goes with some grown-up friend to 
the woods in pleasant weather. City boys and girls in 
America have near-by parks where the finest trees 
of all kinds grow. 

It is not only the big things that are beautiful 
Some of the littlest things in the world are the 
fairest. 

Of all the lovely little things on earth we best like 
flowers and birds, don't we? Do we all know that our 



BIG AND LITTLE BEAUTIES 83 

country is famous among scientists for flowers and 
birds? We have a great many kinds of song birds in 
the United States and a great many kinds of flowers. 

There are too many birds to be named in this book, 
but we can find handbooks in the Public Library that 
will give us colored pictures of them. 

What a wonderful thought God had when he made 
birds! They gladden our eyes, they gladden our 
hearts, and they destroy the harmful insects that 
make war on flowers and fruits. They are our little 
brothers of the sky. One friend of the children says, 
"They are the flowers of the air." 

Flowers of the earth are equally lovely. We like 
to pick them in the fields and we like to raise them 
from seed in our gardens. America is a vast garden 
of flowers. She has flowers of the tropics, and flowers 
of the cold, flowers brought from Europe, and flow- 
ers native to the land. No country is more favored 
with these little lovely things. 

Big beauties and little beauties, our dear America 
is rich in them all. We are grateful for them all. We 
hope to see many of them. We will look for them 
and read about them, and wherever we find a beauti- 
ful thing we will help to keep it beautiful. We will 
not break a tree or crush a flower. We will not hurt 



84 I AM AN AMERICAN 

the birds or take their nests. We will protect the 
gracious woods from fire. 

Because we are Americans, and these beauties of 
America are ours, we will do our best to keep our 
country forever what one of our favorite songs calls 
her, "America the Beautiful." 



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MY MOTHER TONGUE 




XXIII 

I AM an American. My language is English; Eng- 
lish is the language of America. 
English is the language of the King James Bible, 
one of the most wonderful books in the world, the 
book which has helped form all American litera- 
ture. 

English is the language of our American Constitu- 
tion, the ablest plan of popular government in the 
world. It is the language of our American National 



86 I AM AN AMERICAN 

Hymn, and of the beautiful patriotic songs we sing 
in school. 

English is the language of England, the United 
States, Canada, and Australia. It is the mother 
tongue of nearly two hundred million people. 

America has many newcomers from other lands, 
who do not yet speak good English. Until they speak 
good English, they cannot really understand America. 
All America's history and all her government are ex- 
plained in English. Until they understand and speak 
good English, they cannot be the best Americans. 

America welcomes all who come to her seeking to 
be free and to work for the freedom of all. America 
welcomes their languages. All are dear and beautiful. 
But America says, "English first! America's lan- 
guage is English. Have as much knowledge as you 
can; knowledge of languages is good. But your own 
language, if you are an American, must be English." 

English is a rarely beautiful tongue. It can ex- 
press all kinds of thought and feeling, and can make 
you see all kinds of pictures in your mind. Some 
English verses sound like rippling water and singing 
birds. Others make you think of the trampling of 
horses' feet and the roar of thunder. 

Ask some grown-up friend to read you this poem 



MY MOTHER TONGUE 87 

by Tennyson, and notice how much it sounds like a 
bugle call, and how it makes you think of sunset 
time. 

"The splendor falls on castle walls 
And snowy summits old in story; 
The long light shakes across the lakes, 
And the wild cataract leaps in glory. 
Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying, 
Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying. 

"0, hark, 0, hear! how thin and clear, 
And thinner, clearer, farther going! 
0, sweet and far from cliff and scar 
The horns of Elf land faintly blowing! 
Blow, let us hear the purple glens replying, 
Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying." 

Now, read this paragraph of the Twenty-third 
Psalm from our Bible. The words make you feel 
peaceful and comfortable. You feel as if your mother's 
arms were around you : — 

"The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. 
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, 
He leadeth me beside the still waters, 
He restoreth my soul." 

Here is a very different-sounding paragraph. This 
one makes you feel angry, and eager and ready to 
fight. It is a part of the famous Liberty Speech by 
Patrick Henry : — 

"Gentlemen may cry peace, peace — but there is 
no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale 



88 I AM AN AMERICAN 

that sweeps from the North will bring to our ears the 
clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in 
the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that 
gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so 
dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price 
of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God ! I know 
not what course others may take; but as for me, give 
me liberty or give me death!" 

This is a little poem which shows how much the 

English language is suited to the tender words we use 

for babies. It is a lullaby and you can hardly say it 

without wanting to nod your head and go to sleep ! — 

"The Rock-a-by Lady from Hush-a-by Street 
Comes stealing; comes creeping; 
The poppies they hang from her head to her feet, 
And each hath a dream that is tiny and fleet — 
She bringeth her poppies to you, my sweet, 
When she findeth you sleeping!" 

English is beautiful for poetry, and clear and 
powerful for prose. In English you can say every- 
thing you think, with force and dignity. It is a lan- 
guage which has been made by thousands of years of 
growth, and it has been built out of the speech of 
peoples who no longer live on earth. That makes it 
rich and varied, as America is made rich and varied 
by having been built out of so many races. 

As a loyal American I will protect and cherish the 
English language. I will speak it well, for it is very 



MY MOTHER TONGUE 89 

beautiful and very powerful. I will study the great 
stories and poems and plays of the English language. 
I will call no other tongue my mother tongue. The 
English language is my language, the language of 
America. 




XXIV 

THE American flag protects all Americans 
whether they speak the English language well 
or not. 

But something very dangerous to freedom can 
happen if all Americans do not speak and use Eng- 
lish. 

Sometimes a great many Russians or Italians or 
Germans come to America at one time, and go to one 
place. They settle there and get work from Ameri- 



THE TONGUE OF TREASON 91 

cans, and live in American homes, and send their 
children to American schools. But they live and talk 
as they did in Europe. The Americans around them 
talk about government and business, and education, 
and American ways of doing things. But the new- 
comers do not understand. 

Then some bad man from the old country comes 
and talks to them in the language they do'understand. 
And he tells them false things. He tells them that 
America is all selfish, that the rich rule and that 
every one must get all he can for himself. He tells 
them not to work faithfully for their employers, but 
to steal and lie. 

If the newcomers could understand English, they 
would soon hear of the many wealthy men in Amer- 
ica who serve their fellows with unselfish skill; they 
would hear of the many honest workmen who have 
become rich and powerful in this country; they would 
hear of the schools where all may learn trades and 
business. 

But they do not understand English, and they 
believe the false stories. 

Then comes a war. Some enemy of freedom threat- 
ens America. America needs every hand and every 
heart to fight for liberty and honor. 



92 I AM AN AMERICAN 

But the bad man comes to the people who do not 
speak English and he says, "America's enemy is your 
friend; he wants to give you more freedom than 
America has given. America is not really your 
friend." 

The newcomers forget that they came to America 
because things were so hard in Europe. They forget 
that America has given them freedom to think and 
act as they wish, schools for their children, work for 
themselves, and patience for their ignorance. 

And so when the American Government asks for 
soldiers, some of these men do not go. When the 
American Government asks for Liberty Bonds, some 
of these men do not buy them. 

And when the bad man wants some one to blow up 
an American factory full of innocent women and girls, 
he goes to one of these people and tells him the enemy 
will reward him, will make him rich and important. 

And the man takes a bomb and blows up the fac- 
tory, and kills mothers and fathers and sisters, good 
citizens of America! He stabs the Freedom that 
sheltered and fed him. 

This can truly happen. It has happened more than 
once in the Great War which began in 1914. 

In 1918 there were a very great number of Ger- 



THE TONGUE OF TREASON 93 

mans in this country who did not speak English. 
That was one way the German Government had got 
ready to conquer America. The German Govern- 
ment knew that people could more easily be made 
untrue to America if they knew no English. So the 
German Government had sent clever men here, to 
start German newspapers, to publish German books 
and to get votes so that German should be taught 
in the primary schools in towns where many Ger- 
mans lived. 

Many of these American Germans were still taught 
the old foolish things: that the Kaiser had a Divine 
right to rule; that Germany was meant to rule the 
world; that it was not wrong to crush a nation and 
make it belong to Germany. 

So some of these people became a real secret army 
for the Kaiser, against the country they called their 
own. They had come here because they wanted the 
golden gifts of a free country. And they paid for 
these golden gifts with treachery. These were false 
friends like Charles Lee, traitors like Benedict 
Arnold. How different from the hundreds of thou- 
sands of American citizens of German birth, like Carl 
Schurz, who really loved Freedom and Honor! 

When the histories tell how Freedom and Honor 



94 I AM AN AMERICAN 

won the war, and made America safe again, the chil- 
dren of those families must bear the shame of a black- 
ened name. That is a heavy sorrow to put on an Amer- 
ican child. To have the other fathers and mothers 
patriots, heroes, and one's own dear father or mother 
a traitor! 

Let us all, all American children, pray that our 
little brothers and sisters in America may not have 
this to bear, but that all may be proud and happy to 
know that their fathers and mothers served America 
faithfully in her hour of need. 








WHEN CUBA WAS SET FREE 




XXV 

THE Stars and Stripes have not gone out to war 
many times. America is a whole ocean away 
from Europe, and a whole ocean away from Asia; 
Canada, on our northern border, is a good friend of 
ours, because the people live and think very much 
as we do. 

Before the Civil War, there had been a war with 
Mexico after Texas had separated from Mexico and 
joined the United States. The war was about a doubt- 



96 I AM AN AMERICAN 

ful boundary, and historians differ about who was 
right. But it is the only war we have ever fought for 
a cause less great than "Freedom and Honor." 

Very different was the one war the United States 
fought after the Civil War. Then the Stars and 
Stripes went out for Honor and Freedom, indeed. 
This was the Spanish War. 

In the year 1898, when William McKinley was our 
President, the island of Cuba, which belonged to 
Spain, was suffering terribly in a war against the 
tyranny of the Spanish Government. The Cubans 
had rebelled and fought for many years, but the 
Spanish Government, which at that time was unwise 
and false, did not keep its promises of reform. 

The United States saw its little sister country 
being abused by a wicked governor, and unable to 
free itself because it was smaller than the country 
which abused it. The cruelties in Cuba grew so bad 
that it was not right for the United States to look on 
and see the smaller country suffer unhelped. 

So on April 20 the United States told Spain that 
she must set Cuba free. Spain refused, and the 
United States went to war with the Spanish Govern- 
ment. 

We won the war, in sharp battles on land and sea. 



WHEN CUBA WAS SET FREE 97 

But it was mostly on the sea, because Spain sent 
part of her navy to fight for her claims. 

We shall be interested to read how Commodore 
Dewey took his Pacific Squadron of our Navy into 
Manila Harbor, and destroyed the whole Spanish 
fleet there, without losing one American sailor. 

This battle set the Philippine Islands free from 
Spain. They were struggling for liberty just as Cuba 
was. 

Another Spanish fleet was sent out, and the United 
States fleet under Admiral Sampson and Commodore 
Schley caught it while it was in the harbor of Santiago 
de Cuba taking on coal. Our ships lay outside the 
harbor and waited for the Spanish ships to come out. 

The Spanish Admiral, Cervera, who was a fine 
naval officer, knew that he could not come out with- 
out losing his fleet, but the Spanish Government sent 
him an order to leave the harbor and fight, and he 
obeyed orders. 

As his four cruisers and two destroyers steamed out 
of the narrow mouth of the harbor, the American ves- 
sels closed in on them so they had to run in along 
shore. And in a very short battle, one after another 
the ships were driven on shore or destroyed by 
American gunners. 



98 I AM AN AMERICAN 

The American sailors on the Texas were fighting 
one of the Spanish ships, and they saw that it had 
caught fire from their guns, and was conquered. They 
started to cheer, but Captain Jack Philip stopped 
them. He said, "Don't cheer, boys, the poor fellows 
are dying." 

That message came back to America with the news 
of victory. The people of the United States felt that 
both messages gave them the spirit of our Navy. The 
regret of a brave commander for the suffering of his 
enemy was the spirit of Abraham Lincoln, and of all 
our greatest Americans. 

While the Navy was fighting, an American army 
under General Shaf ter went into Cuba and conquered 
the Spanish army there. There were many volunteers 
in our army in Cuba, and one regiment was called 
"Roosevelt's Rough-Riders." These men were com- 
manded by Colonel Leonard Wood, one of our bravest 
and most modest officers. Under him served Theo- 
dore Roosevelt, who afterwards became our President. 
These volunteers did splendid service, and America 
was very proud of them. 

At the end of the war, Spain gave up her control 
over Cuba and Porto Rico. 

The United States sent a temporary government to 



WHEN CUBA WAS SET FREE 99 

Cuba, to help the smaller country get started in the 
right way. When the Cuban people were ready to 
manage their affairs for themselves, we called the 
Americans home again and Cuba became inde- 
pendent, 

Some of the European countries had said that 
America would not take her government away, but 
would take Cuba for herself. But the United States 
showed by her acts that the war had been truly a 
war for the rights of small peoples. 

We can be very proud of the work of our Army 
and Navy in the Spanish War, and of the fair dealing 
of our Government. Let us thank God for teaching 
our first Americans how to build a republic, where 
we ourselves can decide what we will fight and suffer 
for. Let us ask Him to give us wisdom to keep the 
Republic free from unjust wars, and for courage to 
fight bravely for it in a just cause. 




XXVI 

WE know something about government now. 
We know that each country has either a 
democratic government or an autocratic government. 
The people of each country obey its laws because that 
is the only way they can live together comfortably. 
But the different countries have to live with each 
other, too. People do not stay in their own country. 
They travel for business and pleasure. The ships of 
all countries use the same ocean. The products of 



HOW COUNTRIES LIVE TOGETHER 101 

one country go to another, and often pass through 
still other countries on their way. Mail and tele- 
grams go through many countries. 

This could not be, without some kind of law to live 
by. We could not send mail through a country if 
that country let her railroad men steal it, or keep it 
back. We could not use the ocean if some country 
allowed her navy to sink our ships. 

Long ago there were no laws between countries. 
As soon as a traveler left his own country he was 
likely to be robbed or killed. But as soon as business 
and travel began to grow between countries, the coun- 
tries began to make agreements with each other. 
What governments agree upon is called a "treaty." 
A treaty is a promise of governments to each other. 

Every promise is a solemn thing. A man who 
breaks his promise is despised by other men. But a 
treaty is far more solemn than a man's promise. It is 
the promise of a whole nation. If it is broken, it 
breaks the reputation of a whole people. 

After hundreds of years of making treaties, some 
things had been agreed upon so often that they be- 
came a kind of law. Those things that all civilized 
countries agreed on were called "International Law." 

But International Law was only an understanding. 



102 I AM AN AMERICAN 

There was no court and no book of laws, and there 
were no lawyers for it. When countries disagreed 
about International Law there was no one to decide. 
War decided. 

All the countries kept up armies and navies in case 
of disagreement. It cost millions of dollars to keep 
the armies and navies, and all the millions had to 
come out of the citizens' pockets. This had made 
much suffering. 

Wise men in every country saw that there ought 
to be a court to settle the disputes of nations, with a 
real book of International Law. These men saw that 
the right way for countries to settle their disputes 
was by arbitration. 

Arbitration means to call in an outsider who can 
listen to both sides, see the thing in a calm way, and 
decide justly. The world needed a Court of Arbitra- 
tion with books of International Law and all the 
power that real courts have. 

In 1898, the Czar of Russia, who is now no longer a 
Czar, invited all the governments to meet together 
and talk about a Court of Arbitration. Russia was 
one of the countries that suffered with a big army, 
and the Czar saw how much a Court of Arbitration 
was needed. 



HOW COUNTRIES LIVE TOGETHER 103 

All the big countries sent representatives, and the 
meeting was held at The Hague, a beautiful city of 
Holland. At this meeting the countries agreed on the 
Code of International Law and made a plan for a 
Court of Arbitration. 

In 1907, the countries sent their representatives 
again to The Hague and more was agreed upon. 

Now at last the world had a Code of International 
Law, and a court where disputes could be settled, 
and an agreement about the most important things. 
It was now written down in books where every one 
could see it, just what the nations could expect of 
each other, what they could depend on. 







..• .' 



WHAT THE NATIONS PROMISED 




XXVII 

WHAT the nations agreed on showed what the 
general conscience of the world believed to be 
right, just as the laws of a country show what the 
general conscience of that country believes to be 
right. 

Most of the agreements were about war, because 
war has always been the most terrible danger to 
nations and it is in time of danger that most protec- 
tion is needed. 



WHAT THE NATIONS PROMISED 105 

Of all the mean and dishonest things that used to 
happen in wars, nothing had made so much trouble 
as the violation of neutrality. 

Suppose on both sides of your house were families 
that disliked each other. Suppose the boys of the 
two families got great stones and threw at each 
other. Then suppose one family came over on your 
porch and threw stones at the other house from 
the shelter of yours. All the stones thrown back at 
them would hit your windows and your family ; and 
you, who had not quarreled, would suffer the most 
of all. 

That is what has often happened in war. It is a 
violation of neutrality. To violate neutrality is for a 
warring country to go into a country that is not in 
the war, and use it to fight his enemy. 

The nations at The Hague solemnly agreed that 
this sin against the rights of nations should not be 
committed. There should be no violation of neu- 
trality. 

One of the worst violations of neutrality that can 
happen is when the vessels of a peaceful country are 
captured or destroyed by the warring countries. The 
ocean is the natural open road for all countries. 
Every one has a right to travel there. War or no war, 



106 I AM AN AMERICAN 

no country has a right to destroy the vessels of a 
country not at war with her. 

So this also was one of the agreements of the na- 
tions at The Hague. There should be no violation of 
neutrality on the sea. 

Another agreement of great importance was about 
the sick and wounded in war, and those who take 
care of them. 

Savages have no respect for innocence and no 
mercy for the helpless. But the civilized world realizes 
that some things must be sacred, even in war. To 
hurt a wounded man, or a nurse, or a doctor who is 
risking his life to help and save, is too low, too ugly. 
The nations said at The Hague that they would agree 
not to attack each other's hospitals, hospital ships, 
and first-aid tents, and not to attack the helpless, or 
those who care for them. 

And because a prisoner of war is also helpless, be- 
ing no longer in his army or protected by his own 
country, the nations at The Hague agreed on certain 
fair and humane treatment for prisoners of war. 

Oh, how glad the world was when these agreements 
were made at The Hague! Especially in America we 
were happy, because in America we had known how 
sweet it is to have peace, and we hoped no war would 



WHAT THE NATIONS PROMISED 107 

ever come again to the world. We thought that there 
would be no need of war, for now the world had agreed 
on the laws which it must obey, and had a plan for a 
Court of Arbitration, where all nations could settle 
their disputes by these laws. 





WHEN THE GREAT WAR BEGAN 




XXVIII 

WE were right in thinking there was no need for 
war. But we were wrong in thinking war 
would not come. There was no need for war if no 
nation wanted war, but there was a chance for war 
if any nation wanted it. 

A court would not be of much use in your town if 
there were no police. Suppose the judge decided that 
John Brown had stolen George White's money, and 
should pay it back, and John Brown simply said, "I 
will not." Who would make him? 



WHEN THE GREAT WAR BEGAN 109 

With every court of justice there must be a way 
to make people obey its decisions. The Court of 
Arbitration had no police, and so it could not force 
any nation to come to it for decision or to obey if it 
came. Only a great big World-Police of armies and 
navies could have made the Court of Arbitration able 
to prevent war. 

And one nation — that is, one nation's Govern- 
ment — wanted war. So war came. In 1914 an ex- 
cuse was found, just as the autocracies have always 
found excuses. A member of the Austrian royal 
family was murdered in Serbia. Few people in the 
outside world knew much about the man who was 
killed. He had never been important to other people. 
But his death became the match that set all Europe 
on fire. It was the "excuse." Then something like 
this happened: 

Austria said to Serbia, "You must pay for this 
by humbling yourself to us like a slave." 

Serbia said, "We will do what is right, but you ask 
too much." 
. Austria said, "Then we will make war on you." 

Russia said, " If you make war on my friend Serbia, 
I will make war on you." 

Germany said, "Austria and Germany are one. I 



110 I AM AN AMERICAN 

will make war on any one who supports Serbia against 
Austria." 

France said, "I am Russia's ally. If you make war 
on Russia, I will fight." 

Germany said, "Then I will fight France and I will 
go through Belgium to get at her." 

England said, "If you violate Belgium, I will fight 
too." 

Turkey and Bulgaria joined with Germany, and 
later, Italy and Roumania joined the friends of 
France. We call Germany, Austria, and Turkey the 
Central Powers. England, France, and their friends, 
we call the Entente Allies. 

So in a few weeks the greatest war in all history 
was being fought. 

It was all so fast and strange that people in America 
did not know what to think. We felt as if we were at 
the theater, looking at a strange play, and soon we 
should go out of doors and see the peaceful stars, and 
know it had all been make-believe. 

From the very first moment each of the warring 
countries began to tell the world, in the public 
speeches of its representatives, that the others had 
begun the war. Each country said, " I was attacked. 
I am only defending myself." Each country said, 



WHEN THE GREAT WAR BEGAN 111 

too, that the enemy had long planned and wanted 
war. 

The people of the United States did not know what 
to think. We knew that most of the other wars in 
Europe had been the fault of both sides, and that the 
causes were hidden from the public. We thought, 
perhaps this war also was the fault of both sides, and 
that the hidden causes would soon be uncovered and 
would show the truth. 

But one thing we could all see without waiting. 
One thing was clear. We might not know which coun- 
try planned the war, but we did know what each 
country did in the war. From the first hour one coun- 
try did things against International Law and against 
its agreements. That country was Germany. 

Belgium, the small, rich, busy country between 
northern France and Germany, was a neutral coun- 
try. Germany had made a solemn treaty to respect 
Belgium's neutrality in case of war with France. 

But Germany broke her solemn promise. Across 
Belgium was an easy way to Paris; it was an easy 
way because France had trusted the word of Germany 
and had built no forts on that border. Germany took 
the easy way. In spite of her solemn treaty, she 
marched her millions of men, her guns, her horses, 



112 I AM AN AMERICAN 

her mighty trucks, straight into Belgium to get at 
France. 

The whole world felt the shock of such an act of 
national dishonor. And the act was made worse by 
the speech of the Chancellor of Germany, which 
showed the world that Germany did not even care 
for honor. The Chancellor said to the British Ambas- 
sador that it was dreadful for England to declare war 
because Germany had violated Belgium's neutrality. 
He said, "Just for a word, — 'neutrality,' — just 
for a scrap of paper!" 

Nothing that Germany did afterwards gave the 
world a clearer idea of how she felt about honor. 
She called her treaty, the solemn promise of one 
nation to another, a scrap of paper. 




XXIX 

DISHONOR, like darkness, looks blacker against 
the light. Belgium's honor shone as pure and 
white as Germany's dishonor was black and ugly. 
The little country rose as one man, and fought. Every 
man and boy who could carry a gun rushed to the 
call of King Albert, and the small army, only partly 
trained, partly armed, badly fed, threw itself in the 
way of the endless stream of the tremendous German 
army. 



114 I AM AN AMERICAN 

Every child must read the story of Belgium's de- 
fense, for it is one of the great stories of all history. 

The German army, great as it was, was held back 
by the magnificent defense of the little Belgian army. 
The leaders who started to march into Paris like 
a holiday procession, found themselves fighting in 
Belgium, while England and France had time to send 
soldiers to defend Paris. 

This enraged the German leaders, and all at once 
here in America we began to hear stories so awful 
that we could not believe them. 

We heard that the Germans had burned up whole 
towns in Belgium, that they had taken hundreds of 
village people, not soldiers, had driven them into 
village squares and cemeteries, and had shot them 
dead in masses. We heard that they were killing 
mothers and little babies, and old men, who could 
not harm any one. We heard that they were stealing 
what they did not burn, and, worst of all, that they 
were torturing people. To torture — that is, to hurt 
in dreadful ways on purpose — is something only 
the savages are expected to do. 

We said in America, "These are stories told by 
frightened people, who exaggerate everything. They 
cannot be true." 



HONOR AND DISHONOR 115 

But soon came letters from our own people who 
happened to be in Belgium when the Germans came, 
men and women of the highest character, our own 
Government's representatives. They said it was true. 
Soon came Belgian men and women to this country 
who had escaped, men and women of unstained repu- 
tation. They said it was true. By and by the French 
and Belgian Governments held courts of inquiry, and 
after all the witnesses had been examined, the judges 
said it was true. 

America did not wholly believe it even then. But 
in the years that followed, Germany went on doing 
dreadful things, violating all the principles of Inter- 
national Law, all the laws of international conscience, 
until at last the world had to believe. It was true. 

First Germany violated Belgium's neutrality and 
called her solemn treaty a scrap of paper. Then 
Germany violated the laws of humanity by killing 
non-combatants, by destroying cities and towns, by 
torture and by theft. And soon other terrible viola- 
tions were added to these. 

The French and English armies that were hurried 
to France, with almost no preparation and with no 
time to make plans, gave the Germans the same 
surprise that Belgium did. 



116 I AM AN AMERICAN 

Germany had millions of soldiers trained to obey like 
clockwork; she had ammunition, supplies, everything. 
And her plan was perfectly ready. But France and 
England had the soul which cannot be conquered; the 
soul of Freedom and Honor. Every soldier felt the 
burning anger of a man whose home is attacked. A 
righteous cause makes a mighty army, as we Ameri- 
cans know. And the army of France met the army of 
Germany like a rock standing against the beating surf. 

We shall read much of the Battle of the Marne, 
when we are older. And when we read it we shall find 
our hearts beating and our eyes wet, thanking God 
for the spirit in the hearts of men that makes them 
so heroic. 

There at the river Marne, which lay between the 
German enemy and their Paris, the Frenchmen said, 
"No further." The German army, sweeping on, was 
suddenly stopped by a living wall of invincible de- 
fenders. 

Dying by tens of thousands, borne down by awful 
numbers, fighting in a living volcano of fire and noise 
and suffering, the French and British soldiers pushed 
the German army back, back, away from the Marne 
and back to the Aisne. The battle of the Marne saved 
Paris, and France. 



HONOR AND DISHONOR 117 

The German army settled down for a long war, in- 
stead of a short and easy one. And again we began 
to hear horrible stories. French towns and French 
people were suffering as the Belgians had suffered. 
And again we found the stories were true. 

Every month some new and unbelievable violation 
was done. 

People in the conquered towns were driven out of 
their homes like herds of cattle and made to work for 
Germany. No slavery the world ever knew was so 
dreadful as this. 

English prisoners of war were starved and had dogs 
set on them by Germany. 

And at last the German army began to fire on hos- 
pitals, stretcher-bearers, wounded men, and nurses. 
Of all the horrible things this seemed the worst. But 
something worse was to come. 




XXX 

THE ships that carried grain and meat to Ger- 
many could not get past the English fighting 
ships in the English Channel and the North Sea. 
The German Navy tried to protect them and to 
keep the food-ships away from England in turn. 
But the English Navy was the stronger, and the 
English commanders stopped the food-ships on their 
way and sent them into English and French har- 
bors. 



THE LUSITANIA 119 

So Germany thought of a new way to starve Eng- 
land and win the war. 

Germany had been making a great many sub- 
marines. The submarine is a fighting ship which can 
go under water. It fires torpedoes at the enemy ships 
while it is under water. When it comes to the sur- 
face the crew fire guns. The submarine was invented 
by an American, and is used by nearly all countries. 
Germany had been making large and very powerful 
submarines. 

In February, 1915, the German Government said 
to the world, "We are going to send our submarines 
out into the ocean around England, and sink every 
ship that comes near, no matter what country it be- 
longs to, nor what it carries. We do not care whether 
it is a passenger ship or where it is going. We will sink 
the little fishing boats and the big steamers all alike. 
We will not give any warning, or try to save the peo- 
ple. We shall torpedo every ship we can catch. We 
will starve England at any cost to the world." 

The German Government said this in more grown- 
up words, but this was what the words meant. 

We have heard about violations of International 
Law. This was a violation of International Law and 
of The Hague promises. It was more than that, it 



120 I AM AN AMERICAN 

was a violation of the human conscience. The world 
could not believe that Germany meant it. 

On a spring day in 1915 the great steamship Lusi- 
tania sailed out of New York Harbor to cross to 
England. Our fathers and mothers have always liked 
to go to Europe by the Cunard Line, and the Lusi- 
tania was one of the best ships of the line. There 
were many families on board. Many mothers and 
little children who had to go home to England, 
Scotland, or France were traveling on the Lusitania 
because she was so safe and swift. There were more 
than a thousand people who had nothing at all to do 
with the war. 

On the 7th of May, when the Lusitania was almost 
at the coast of England, an unseen submarine shot 
two torpedoes into her. There were two fearful explo- 
sions, and instantly the Lusitania began to sink. In 
the terrible fright and confusion, the crews hurried as 
fast as they could to lower the lifeboats. Brave men 
rushed about putting little children in the boats, and 
helping women. But faster and faster the Lusitania 
settled under them. There was no time, no help, no 
hope. 

In less than twenty minutes the great ship sank to 
the bottom of the sea, and all those hundreds of 



THE LUSITANIA 121 

mothers and fathers and little children were strug- 
gling in the icy water. 

Poor little babies! Like wax dolls, they floated 
a moment on the waves, helpless, then they sank 
beneath the whirling waters and were drowned. 

One thousand, one hundred and ninety-eight peo- 
ple were murdered at sea that day by the German 
Government and its submarine ! 

While the whole civilized world was filled with 
horror and pity, Germany held a special holiday for 
her school-children, to celebrate the sinking. The 
German newspapers said, "With joy and pride we 
contemplate this latest deed of our navy." And Ger- 
many had medals made, celebrating the sinking of 
the Lusitania and making fun of the people who 
sailed in her! 

Then the world knew that Germany meant what 
she said about submarines. And the world began to 
understand that Germany did not care for the things 
the other civilized countries had been learning to care 
for. She did not care for honor, and justice, and 
mercy. She only cared to get what she wanted by 
any means that would succeed. 

Men who read and study the thoughts of other 
nations had been telling us for a long time that this 



122 I AM AN AMERICAN 

was so. They had studied German books of politics 
and war, and they had told us that Germany thought 
differently from the rest of us. Those German books 
told that the German Government was planning to 
make itself ruler of the world. Those books said that 
deceit and cruelty did not matter if only Germany 
got what she wanted. 

If all countries had read Germany's books and had 
believed the German people really meant them, we 
might all have known that this terrible war was about 
to come. 

But almost no one had believed it. Even after so 
many horrors in France and Serbia and Belgium, 
many people could not yet believe it. It did not seem 
that any country could be so wicked. 

It was especially hard here in America to believe 
evil of Germany because we knew so many people of 
German blood. We had found our citizens of German 
blood as honest, as kind, as true to the flag of Liberty 
as other Americans. So we could not think the Ger- 
mans in Germany were very different. 

But we had not known that Germany had changed 
her ideals since these Germans came to America. 
And the change of ideals had changed the nation. 

What you care most about, your ideal, makes you 



THE LUSITANIA 123 

into its own image. If you care for money more than 
anything else, you grow mean and greedy. If you 
care most of all for show, you grow foolish and artifi- 
cial. If you care most for the "Kingdom of God and 
His righteousness," you grow beautiful and true. 
And a nation is like a person. 

The German nation had been taught to care about 
German power more than anything else. Germany 
was to be everything, the rest of the world nothing. 
Germany must grow to be a tremendous empire, rul- 
ing the world and the world's trade. It did not matter 
what happened to any one else or to any other na- 
tion. A greater Germany at any cost was Germany's 
ideal. 

The Kaiser and his ruling class had taught the 
people that the way to get this greater Germany was 
to have a mighty army, and to make the army obey 
him absolutely. There must be no conscience but the 
Kaiser's word. And " Rightfulness " (the German 
word means "things that are terrible") was to be the 
spirit of the army. 

The sinking of the Lusitania showed to the world 
that Germany would violate any law, break any 
promise, to win the war and gain the power she 
wanted. 



"• : "-v""H- 











WHEN AMERICA FOUGHT 




XXXI 

OVER one hundred of the people killed on the 
Lusitania were American citizens. So the sink- 
ing of the Lusitania was a violation of America's neu- 
trality as well as a violation of all International Law. 
Many persons in America thought the United 
States ought to go to war with Germany at once. But 
our Government was very anxious not to add to the 
suffering of the world, not to make the war any big- 
ger. We still hoped Germany might be persuaded 



WHEN AMERICA FOUGHT 125 

to regret her lawless acts, and change. America still 
hoped to bring back peace to the world. 

Many messages were sent from the United States 
Government to the German Government, and back 
again. Such messages are called "notes." 

After many notes Germany promised the United 
States that she would not again torpedo a passenger 
ship without warning. 

But she broke that promise just as she had broken 
her promises to other nations. And the German sub- 
marines began to do still more terrible things. When 
they had sunk a ship, and the poor men, women, and 
children had got into lifeboats, the submarine crews 
shot at these helpless people, and killed them. They 
took English sailors from lifeboats and put them on 
their submarine deck, and then they shut the sub- 
marine up tight and dived underneath the water, so 
that the sailors were all swept off and drowned. They 
even torpedoed hospital ships full of helpless wounded 
men and their doctors and nurses. 

All this time the German representatives to the 
United States were pretending that Germany was 
very friendly to America, and in Berlin the Kaiser 
was pretending to our Ambassador that he was very 
friendly to America. 



126 I AM AN AMERICAN 

But our Government had secret service men watch- 
ing and listening. By and by they found out that the 
German representatives in this country were making 
a secret war on us. They were really officers in 
command of a secret army. 

These men had been given money by the German 
Government to pay a whole army of spies. The spies 
found out when our ships were sailing and sent word 
to the submarines. 

And the German representatives paid men to blow 
up munition factories and kill hundreds of innocent 
Americans. They paid men to deceive German Amer- 
icans in places where there were many ignorant peo- 
ple, and to teach them to believe in Germany and to 
fight against America. 

One of the worst things the German Govern- 
ment did was to try to get Mexico to make war 
on us. They had even planned to give a part of 
the United States to Mexico as a reward, and had 
planned to put German officers in charge of Mex- 
ican troops. 

So at last after three years the Great World War 
had come across the ocean, and was threatening the 
American Republic. Americans were no longer safe 
on the open ocean, Americans were no longer safe in 



WHEN AMERICA FOUGHT 127 

their own factories, they could no longer live in peace 
with their neighbor countries. The same iron hand 
which had crushed bleeding Belgium and Serbia, and 
was now trying to crush France and England, had 
reached out to drag the American Republic into ruin 
also. 

The United States did not declare war on Germany. 
Germany was already making war on America, under 
cover. And the President of the United States only 
recognized that fact. 

On the 2d of April, 1917, President Wilson went 
before our Congress in Washington, and very sol- 
emnly, very sadly, gave the message that we were 
at War with Germany. 

President Wilson's message was very long. When 
we are grown up it will be a part of history. There 
are some parts of it we can easily understand now. 
We can read these parts over, as our mothers and 
fathers have often done since they were first said to 
Congress: — 

"With a profound sense of the solemn and even 
tragical character of the step I am taking and of the 
grave responsibilities which it involves, but in unhesi- 
tating obedience to what I deem my constitutional duty, 
I advise that the Congress declare the recent course of 
the Imperial German Government to be in fact nothing 



128 I AM AN AMERICAN 

less than war against the Government and people of 
the United States. . . . 

"We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no 
conquest, no dominion. We seek no indemnities for our- 
selves, no material compensation for the sacrifices we 
shall freely make. We are but one of the champions of 
the rights of mankind. We shall be satisfied when those 
rights have been made as secure as the faith and the 
freedom of nations can make them. . . . 

"To such a task we can dedicate our lives and our 
fortunes, everything that we are and everything that 
we have, with the pride of those who know that the day 
has come when America is privileged to spend her 
blood and her might for the principles that gave her 
birth and happiness and the peace which she has 
treasured. 

" God helping her, she can do no other." 



.•'-"•" 



"V: 



>rv.X '•• fS-^— ^ 

k — ~> V 








WHAT AMERICA FOUGHT FOR 




XXXII 

PRESIDENT WILSON'S message tells us plainly 
why the United States was fighting Germany 
and what we were fighting for. All of us American 
children must clearly understand and remember 
what the greatest war of the world was about. When 
we are grown up the world will be different from what 
it was before this war, and we want to understand 
how America helped make it different. 
The War was about the same thing as the Rev- 



130 I AM AN AMERICAN 

olutionary War, the Civil War, and the Spanish 
War. 

In the War of the Revolution we fought to get lib- 
erty for America. In the Civil War we fought to keep 
liberty for America. In the Spanish War we fought 
to get liberty for a small, oppressed country. 

In 1917, we fought to keep our own liberty and to 
give liberty to all other nations. Each time tryanny 
threatened freedom. This last time the greatest tyr- 
anny ever known threatened all the world. • 

President Wilson said, "We must make the world 
safe for democracy." 

One of our first American volunteers wrote home 
to his little son, "Never forget that your father went 
into this war to keep the world safe for all little 
children." 

Another of our American volunteers, who sailed for 
France at Christmas time, said, "We boys feel that 
we are going to war to end war. We believe when we 
have won this war there will really be 'Peace on 
Earth.'" 

These three sayings explain very clearly what 
America was fighting for. 

America went out to fight the country that tore 
little children from their mothers' arms, that drowned 



WHAT AMERICA FOUGHT FOR 131 

little helpless babies, and killed loving mothers before 
their children's eyes. America fought to keep that 
country from ruling the world. Our fathers and our 
big brothers went willingly to battle and suffering and 
death, because they would rather die than see liberty, 
mercy, and justice die. 

Germany had said that America would not fight. 
Many times in Berlin our Ambassador had been 
treated badly by the German Government when he 
tried to get fair treatment for the English and French 
prisoners. And always he had heard it said there was 
nothing to fear because "America would not fight." 

Germany was mistaken. President Wilson's mes- 
sage was given to Congress in April, 1917. At that 
time the United States had a small army and a small 
navy. On the Fourth of July, one year later, the 
United States had one million fighting men in France, 
and a million more in America getting ready to go ! 

In a few weeks after the President's message a 
squadron of our fighting ships was already off the 
coast of England fighting the German submarines, and 
a flotilla of armed yachts was in French waters pro- 
tecting the French fishing vessels and the troop ships. 
By the Fourth of July, 1918, there were fifty thousand 
men in the American Navy off the coast of Europe, 



132 I AM AN AMERICAN 

and another great navy in training on our own coast. 
America would fight ! 

America did not want to fight. No right-minded 
person likes fighting, but America would rather fight 
than let Germany spoil the world for right-minded 
people to live in. Once more a great cause made a 
mighty army. 

Our American fathers and brothers wanted peace, 
but they wanted peace for all nations. They were not 
willing to have peace and comfort for themselves 
while their brothers were forced to an unjust war. 

When America entered the War she felt that such 
horrors must never be let happen again. The world 
must be fixed so that no nation ever again could be 
able to say, "I will take what I please and do what 
I like. My might is right." 

To make the world safe for all little children, to 
make the world safe for democracy, means to make it 
safe against any country that might ever try to do 
what Germany has done. So America entered the 
War not just to beat Germany, but to make the world 
really and truly safe for democracy. 

As loyal American children we are thankful that 
America was able to help our suffering sister countries 
against their oppressor. We are thankful that Amer- 



WHAT AMERICA FOUGHT FOR 133 

ica had a President who could see so clearly and say 
so powerfully what the nations on earth were fighting 
for. When we are grown up we will do our part to 
keep our country true to the high, unselfish purpose 
with which she entered the Greatest War; to protect 
the human rights of all peoples, and to help them live 
in a spirit of brotherhood in a world safe for all. 




XXXIII 

TO make the world safe for little children meant 
to fight, to fight under the Stars and Stripes by 
land and sea. "First to fight" is the watchword of the 
United States Marines, a part of our American Navy. 
And first to fight after America entered the War was 
our splendid Navy. 

The American Navy has a proud record of one 
hundred and fifty years of success, of courage, and of 
noble character in officers and men. 



MY NAVY 135 

This record shows that the United States Navy 
has always been ready; ready to obey orders, ready to 
go into action. It is as ready to-day as it always was. 

As soon as America entered the War, our Govern- 
ment sent a squadron of fighting ships, called de- 
stroyers, across the ocean to help the English Navy 
fight the German submarines. It was cold weather. 
The voyage was especially rough and hard on ships 
and men. After such a trip it usually takes much time 
to put everything in repair and to rest the men. 

When the American destroyers arrived in an Eng- 
lish harbor, the English commander under whom they 
were to serve, Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly, said to the 
officer in command of the squadron, "How soon can 
you be ready to go to sea?" 

The American commander answered, "The ships 
and the men are fit to sail at once, sir, as soon as we 
can take on fuel." 

The English Admiral was pleased, as well he might 
be. Such readiness meant hard, constant work all the 
way over, and it meant strength and endurance in 
both men and ships. 

The United States Navy went to work, with the 
English and French Navies, to keep the deadly gray 
German submarine from winning the War. 



136 I AM AN AMERICAN 

Out on the wide ocean that should be free and safe, 
those submarines were lying under the waves like 
sharks waiting to devour the precious lives of men, 
women, and little children. 

They sunk the great ships with torpedoes and sent 
the women and children down into the icy water. 
They sunk the little fishing boats, and drowned the 
hard-working fishermen. But most they hoped to 
sink the big transport steamers loaded with our Amer- 
ican boys on their way to France to fight for the 
world's freedom. 

But some one else was out on the wide ocean. The 
United States Navy was there, ready and keen and 
brave. Working with the English and French Navies, 
our destroyers, our submarines, our small, swift sub- 
marine chasers, and our great flying machines were 
hunting for the German submarines. All day while 
we were in school, all night while we were asleep, in 
wind, in storm, in sun and rain, our Navy watched 
and fought for us. 

America sent millions of men across the ocean and 
millions of tons of food and supplies, and the Ameri- 
can Navy with God's help carried them safely over 
the terrors of the sea. Some of our brave brothers 
went down to death, but every man of the millions 



MY NAVY 137 

who safely arrived resolved to fight the harder for 
those who died. 

Ship after ship, ship after ship, the American Navy 
took them in safety to the other side of the sea, and 
with them it took the ships that carried food, and 
clothes, and ammunition to our Allies. 

One day our Navy caught a German submarine 
and sent a shot into her. The sailors on the submarine 
had to jump into the sea when their submarine sank 
under them, just as they had made many a poor little 
child leap into the waves. But the American sailors 
did not stand and shoot the drowning men, as the 
Germans have so often done. American men are not 
like that. They saved as many of the German sailors 
as they could, and got them on board their own boat. 
And then two of our American sailors jumped into the 
sea after one of the German men who was drowning. 
At the risk of their own lives, they saved him. 

Why did they do this? Because we were not at war 
for hate or cruelty. We were at war to stop cruelty 
and injustice. So long as the enemy is fighting, we 
must fight him. But when he has surrendered, he is 
no longer an enemy, he is only a man. 

American soldiers and sailors fight for the great 
country that follows Washington, and Lincoln, and 



138 I AM AN AMERICAN 

Wilson. They fight in a navy whose leaders are men 
like Captain Jack Philip, who said, "Don't cheer 
boys, the poor fellows are dying." 

The German submarine crews were fighting for a 
country that believed in "f rightfulness," a country 
whose emperor allowed helpless prisoners to be wor- 
ried by savage dogs. They were fighting under leaders 
who proclaimed a national holiday for the school- 
children to celebrate the murder of a thousand inno- 
cent men, women, and babies on the Lusitania. 

We can all see the difference. 

The spirit of our Navy is the spirit of absolute 
readiness, high courage, and unselfish devotion. 
There is no cruelty in our brothers in navy blue. They 
live and die true to the noblest type of American 
manhood. This is true of the men and of the officers 
alike. 

It is an old naval custom to name each new de- 
stroyer for some hero of our history who has done a 
deed worthy to be so remembered. 

A little while ago the Secretary of the Navy was 
asked to give a name to a new destroyer. This is what 
he said : — 

"I took up first the names of the great admirals, and 
then the great captains, and all the American heroes of 



MY NAVY 139 

the sea, and all were worthy. And then I thought of 
Osmond C. Ingram, second-class gunner's mate on the 
destroyer Cassin. I thought of the night when he was 
on watch and saw a U-boat's torpedo headed for his 
ship. He was standing near the place where the high 
explosives were stored, and the torpedo was headed for 
that spot. In a flash he was engaged in hurling over- 
board those deadly explosives, which would have 
destroyed the ship if they remained on board, and he 
managed to get rid of enough of them to save the lives 
of all the officers and sailors on board, but he lost his 
own life. So I named the newest and finest addition to 
the American Navy the Osmond C. Ingram." 

The spirit of Osmond Ingram, who gave his life for 
the life of his comrades, is the spirit of our American 
Navy. 

As a loyal American child, I will give my thanks 
and love to our brave soldiers of the sea, who give 
their lives to keep the ocean safe and free. I will lend 
my money to the Government to build more ships 
and guns. I will give all I can to the Red Cross, which 
takes care of our dear men when they are hurt. And I 
will pray that our Navy may ever be as it has been, 
brave in battle and merciful in victory. 




XXXIV 

WHEN the Liberty Bell rang the first time the 
listening farmboy in New England fields 
dropped the reins on the neck of his plough-horse and 
ran for his musket and powder horn. He was the 
Minute Man, our first American soldier. Strong and 
brave, honest and kind, he was ready to leave all he 
loved and knew, on the minute, to defend Liberty. 

When the Liberty Bell rang in the greatest of all 
wars, the boys in America's colleges and fields and 



MY ARMY 141 

shops, dropped their books and tools and volunteered 
for service. New Minute Men these were, true to the 
old type in the new world. 

Before America entered the Great War, some of 
these new American Minute Men were already in 
France, carrying the wounded to safety, as ambu- 
lance drivers. They were fighting in the Foreign 
Legion, they were flying in the Lafayette Escadrille. 

When America entered the War, she said, "De- 
mocracy is fighting this war. Ours shall be the army 
of democracy, all shall serve alike." So our army was 
an army of universal service. 

Our big brothers were all together in the Army 
of the American Republic. The boy who went to 
Harvard College was side by side with the boy who 
went to the University of California. The boy who 
owned a costly automobile marched beside the boy 
who drove a truck for a living. The boy whose great- 
grandmother was a New England Puritan marched 
beside the boy whose father came from Italy, or 
Scandinavia, or Russia, or Germany. All together 
they came, our army of brothers, all true Americans, 
all fighting under the Star-Spangled Banner to make 
the world safe for little children. 

Straight and slim in American khaki brown, with 



v 



142 I AM AN AMERICAN 

the long, easy American stride, these brothers of ours 
went marching down the home streets away from us. 
Millions went marching down their camp streets, all 
over the country. Hundreds of thousands went 
marching down the docks where the long ships lay 
waiting to take them across the sea to France. 

Every American soldier knew that the German sub- 
marines were waiting out there somewhere under the 
blue water. He knew that the great ship with its 
thousands and thousands of men might at any mo- 
ment be shattered and sunk, and that he and his 
comrades might die a cruel death. 

Every American soldier knew that when he reached 
France he must go into battle against the most pow- 
erful and merciless army the world had ever known. 

But every American soldier knew what he was 
there for. He was going across the sea to do God's 
work in the world, and to die doing it if the need 
came. So our army of brothers went singing on the 
great ships across the ocean. 

In January, 1918, a German submarine at last 
caught one of those troop ships, and torpedoed her. 
It was the troop ship Tuscania. Then our brothers 
showed to the world the spirit of the American Army. 

In the dark and bitter cold, with the high seas rag- 



MY ARMY 143 

ing around them, nearly two thousand men stood on 
the deck of the sinking ship. They felt her settling, 
settling, slowly but surely. Through the long minutes 
they waited for help, remembering the Lusitania, and 
knowing that if help did not come soon they must 
surely drown. They saw the crushed bodies of com- 
rades who were hit by the explosion. They heard the 
moans of dying men. They saw the lifeboats put off 
in a raging sea that swept them away into death. 
For hours helpless on the sinking deck they waited 
for life or death to come up out of the darkness. 

And what did they do, as they stood there in the 
cold and the waiting? They sang! Those splendid 
brothers of ours in khaki brown stood quietly shoulder 
to shoulder, and sang their message of courage and 
faith out into the night! 

That was the spirit of our American Army. To 
stand quietly in the presence of terror, every man 
taking his chance with the other, and to sing in the 
presence of death, was the spirit of the New Minute 
Man. 

One of the destroyers was at last able to get side by 
side with the sinking Tuscania, and all the American 
soldiers standing there got safely on to the destroyer's 
deck. 



144 I AM AN AMERICAN 

They were saved, but they could not forget the 
comrades whose lifeless bodies were washed up on 
the rocky shore next day. They knew then better 
than before what spirit it was they had gone out 
to fight against, the spirit of cruelty and stealth 
that ruled the German Army and used the German 
submarine. 

In this army of ours white men and black men 
fought for the same cause. The sons of the men who 
had toiled as slaves in the cotton-fields fought under 
the same flag as the sons of men who had owned those 
cotton-fields. It was the Army of the American 
Union, going out to end a new slavery, and to win a 
new peace for all men. 

Our black men made brave soldiers. The first of 
them who received the honor of a decoration received 
it for great courage and skill. Standing all alone on 
outpost duty, he saw four Germans creeping up to 
attack a part of his trench. Alone he fought them all 
off. He killed two and captured one, and the other 
ran away. 

That also was the spirit of our Army. When they 
fight they fight hard, with keen eyes to see a foe, 
strong hands to handle a gun, and steady nerves to 
shoot straight. 



MY ARMY 145 

One day a company of American engineers was 
hard at work laying the rails for a piece of track over 
which the English soldiers could send their supply 
trains up to the front. It was very near the front 
trenches. The engineers were working in danger 
from bursting shells. They had surveyors' instru- 
ments with them, and picks, shovels and tools. 

Suddenly the Germans attacked. They came run- 
ning up, firing their rifles, and throwing their hand 
grenades, and in a moment they were all around the 
American engineers. 

But the American engineers did not surrender. 
Some of them found guns. The others caught up 
their pick-axes and shovels, and fought with those. 
And they fought so well that they beat the Germans 
back and cleared their own way to the English 
trenches. There they fought side by side with the 
English soldiers until the attack was beaten. 

To fight hard and never give up was the spirit of 
our first Minute Men. It is still the spirit of our 
Army. 

One day a company of American soldiers was at 
rest in a small French village. Most of the men had 
very little money. Many of them had nothing more 
than their pay. 



146 I AM AN AMERICAN 

Along the dusty road came a poor desolate old 
woman. She was ragged and thin, and her eyes 
showed that she had lost her mind. 

There was a little shop where some of the American 
boys were buying sandwiches and hot coffee. They 
led the old woman into the shop and gave her food. 
Then one of them who spoke French, talked with her. 
When he had heard her story he translated it to the 
other soldiers. 

The poor ragged old woman had been the happy 
mother in a prosperous household in northern France. 
When the Germans conquered the town, the soldiers 
had come into her house, had killed her daughter and 
her husband, and had left her half dead. 

A few days later one of her two sons had been killed 
in battle. Then she had started wandering over the 
roads, to find the other son. Her mind was quite gone, 
and she would never stay in any one place, but always 
wandered away, hoping to find her boy. 

When the young man had finished translating, the 
American soldiers were all crying. They gave the 
poor mother nearly all the money they had. One boy 
who had no money gave her a pair of woolen socks, 
and another gave her his muffler. 

That, too, was the spirit of our Army. 



MY ARMY 147 

The soldiers in our Army and Navy have not only 
given up their education, their work, their pleasure; 
they not only offer their lives in the service; but they 
have given from their little salary to the Red Cross, 
to the Y.M.C.A., and over and over again to the 
suffering women and children of northern France. 

The spirit of brotherhood, of sacrifice and service, 
is the spirit of the American Army. And as American 
children we should know it and be proud of it. Let 
us say a prayer that our American brothers in khaki 
brown may ever be worthy of the "General Order" 
that our American Commander in France, General 
Pershing, sent to his boys, our American Expedi- 
tionary Force : — 

"Hardship will be your lot, but trust in God will 
give you comfort; temptation will befall you, but the 
teachings of our Saviour will give you strength. Let 
your valor as a soldier, and your conduct as a man, be 
an inspiration to your comrades and an honor to your 
country." 




XXXV 

THERE are many flags in the world, of many 
colors. There is one flag that belongs to all na- 
tions alike. That flag is a red cross on a white back- 
ground, the flag of the Red Cross Society. It stands 
for the love and mercy that came into the world when 
Jesus died on the cross. It stands for the blood of 
suffering that is alike in all races, and the purity of 
mercy that all humanity needs alike. 
That flag, like the Stars and Stripes, was made by 



THE AMERICAN RED CROSS 149 

a woman, but in a different way from that in which 
our flag was made by Betsy Ross. For the Red Cross 
Society was founded by a woman. Its beautiful mean- 
ing and holy work grew out of the compassion of a 
woman's heart. 

It is our honor and privilege as American children 
to belong to the Nation that gave birth to Clara 
Barton, the founder of the Red Cross. 

Clara Barton was a teacher. She was born in the 
little town of Oxford, Massachusetts. When our 
Civil War broke out she was a clerk in Washington, 
but she went into a hospital and became a nurse. 
She took care of sick and wounded soldiers. 

The suffering of soldiers and the grief of their fam- 
ilies became to her the most important thing in life. 
She spent her money and gave her time to the work of 
finding men who were reported missing. She com- 
forted the sorrowing families, and cared for the sick 
soldiers wherever she found them. 

After the Civil War Miss Barton went to Europe 
for a rest. But she soon found work waiting for 
her. War came between France and Germany, a 
terrible and bloody war. Clara Barton helped the 
Grand Duchess of Baden arrange hospitals for the 
care of the soldiers. She followed the German 



150 I AM AN AMERICAN 

army and superintended the work of nursing and 
relief. 

In 1881, the American Red Cross Society was 
formed by her efforts, and she became its President. 

Before her death Miss Barton superintended the 
work of relief in three more great disasters. She took 
care of the Armenians in 1896, she took care of the 
Spanish and American soldiers in 1898, and later of 
the English soldiers in Africa. 

What is this association that Clara Barton founded? 

It is the great association that makes a business of 
helping those who need help. It is the mother of 
lonely children, the nurse of sick soldiers, the kind 
sister of the poor, the big brother of the weak and 
helpless. The American Red Cross is the greatest 
single business organization in the world, and its 
whole business is helpfulness. 

When we take our dimes and dollars to the Red 
Cross, we send them straight to some one who needs 
help, some one who is suffering. 

Perhaps my dollar went to a little town near the 
Swiss border, sometime in the year 1918. 

A train from Germany pulls into the station. A 
crowd of women and children stumble off. They are 
French women and children who have been kept pris- 



THE AMERICAN RED CROSS 151 

oners in Germany, and are being sent back to France. 
They are in rags, they are faint with long hunger, 
they are pinched and yellow with sickness. 

One poor little girl falls on the platform. She is too 
weak to walk. Quickly a man with a cross on his 
sleeve lifts her in his arms. He carries her gently to a 
big motor ambulance with a red cross on its side. 
The little girl opens her eyes a short time later and 
finds herself in a soft bed, in a cool, clean room, near 
other little children in other comfortable beds. A 
gentle nurse is holding a cup of broth to the hungry 
little mouth. 

Then the little girl is bathed, fed, and comforted. 
The nurse brings her a dolly to keep for her own. 
When she is well enough to get up she finds a nice 
dress and fresh clothes to put on. 

My dollar was one of the dollars that paid for the 
ambulance, the hospital, the broth, and the clothes. 
Maybe it was the very dollar that paid for the dolly. 

Perhaps my dollar went to Paris sometime in the 
year 1918. 

Out in the mud and smoke sixty miles away, one of 
my American brothers in khaki brown flings up his 
arms and falls in a crooked heap. He has been shot in 
the leg. His comrades rush by him. It is their duty to 



152 I AM AN AMERICAN 

go forward, to take the German trench. He lies there, 
in pain, in fear. Will they find him, or must he die 
slowly alone? He thinks, "Even if they find me, I 
shall never walk again. I shall be a cripple." 

Dusk comes. The American boy is faint, almost 
unconscious. Suddenly he hears a low voice, an 
American voice. Strong American arms with a cross 
on the sleeves lift him to a stretcher. Sturdy Ameri- 
can comrades carry him back to the First Aid Station. 

A kind American hand gives him food, and medi- 
cine to dull the pain, and a Red Cross doctor bandages 
his wounds. 

Presently he is in a motor ambulance with a red 
cross on the side. By and by he is in a hospital train 
with a red cross on every car. At last he lies in bed 
in a hospital in Paris, over which the Red Cross flag 
flies. 

He thinks, "I am alive, but I shall never walk 
again. My mother will cry." 

A great surgeon comes in, a man famous on both 
sides of the ocean. He says, "It can be done." And 
he performs a delicate operation that makes the 
American boy able to walk again. It is an operation 
that would have cost a thousand dollars in times of 
peace. 



THE AMERICAN RED CROSS 153 

My American brother in khaki brown sits happily 
on the balcony and looks at beautiful Paris, and he 
thinks, "I am well! I can walk again. How glad my 
mother will be!" 

My dollar helped to pay for the stretcher, the food 
and the medicine, the ambulance, the train and the 
hospital. My dollar helped train the nurse, and all the 
people who helped. The great surgeon gave his serv- 
ices for love of humanity, but he could not have per- 
formed the operation without the things my dollar 
helped to buy. 

Perhaps my dollar went to Italy. 

There was a time in the Great War when the armies 
of Italy gave way before treachery and might to- 
gether, and the Germans poured into the country, 
killing and burning as they came. Later the Italians 
drove them out again with magnificent bravery. Rut 
there were terrible weeks when all the people who had 
lived in the border towns were wanderers on the 
roads. 17 ; Mothers with babies in their arms, boys and 
girls of eight or nine, grandmothers and grandfathers, 
were tramping the roads like beggars. They had no- 
where to sleep, nothing to eat, and no home to go to 
anywhere. 

In less than a week the American Red Cross was 



154 I AM AN AMERICAN 

with them. It brought whole freight trains full of 
food and clothes, and things for those who were ill. 
It brought money, and best of all, friends. The sad 
desolate people were taken care of and helped to 
make new homes. 

One day an American Red Cross surgeon in a hos- 
pital near the trenches looked at the wounded men 
who were lying on stretchers, and saw a German pris- 
oner badly hurt amongst them. 

The surgeon said, "This man is the worst wounded. 
I will take him first." 

One of the other men said, "He is a German, doc- 
tor. Will you put him before us?" 

The Red Cross surgeon said, "It is my duty to help 
first those who need help most. The rest of you are 
not so seriously wounded." 

"That's right," the other men spoke up. "Take 
the poor chap first." 

That was the spirit in which Clara Rarton founded 
the Red Cross. It has always taken care of friend and 
enemy alike. To the Red Cross a wounded man is not 
an enemy, but only a suffering human being. The 
Red Cross stands for human brotherhood. Its shining 
red and white is a symbol of mercy as wide as the 
world. 



THE AMERICAN RED CROSS 155 

This spirit was one of the hopes of the world when 
the nations met at The Hague. They all promised to 
respect the International Red Cross. Germany 
joined the others in this promise. 

Rut again Germany broke her word. Again and 
again the German Army fired on stretcher-bearers, 
and on hospital ambulances, and on hospitals. The 
Red Cross was plain to see, but it gave no protection 
against the hatred of Germany. 

President Wilson said, speaking about the Ameri- 
can Red Cross in New York, in May, 1918, "One 
of the deepest stains that rests upon the reputation 
of the Germany Army is that they have not re- 
spected the Red Cross. That goes to the root of the 
matter." 

When Germany broke the law of the Red Cross she 
broke a greater law than any International Law, she 
violated the principle of human brotherhood. 

Human brotherhood is the real meaning of democ- 
racy. When we are citizens of the American Republic 
we belong to an American brotherhood, a democracy 
which gives equal rights to all its members. As mem- 
bers of the Red Cross, we belong to a universal broth- 
erhood, a greater democracy which gives equal rights 
to all men. 



156 I AM AN AMERICAN 

The Red Cross is the flag of a world-wide democ- 
racy, ruled by the spirit of Jesus. 

As American children let us all belong to this de- 
mocracy and reverence its flag with our own, the Red 
Cross with the Stars and Stripes. 








OUR IDEALS TO'DAY 



XXXVI 

WE know that America is the richest country 
in the world. She is richest of all in her chil- 
dren. Her mines of gold and iron and coal are not so 
valuable as the wise and brave men who have carried 
our country to safety from the time of the colonists to 
this day. Her fields of cotton, wheat, and fruit are 
not worth so much as the wise and brave women who 
have done their part side by side with the men. 
Her glorious beauty of the land from east to west 



158 I AM AN AMERICAN 

is not so fair as the shining ideals she keeps alive in 
the millions of children in her schools. 

What are these ideals? In what image are we 
American children being formed ? 

They are the ideals of Washington and Lincoln, of 
our Army, our Navy, our Red Cross. Our ideal is to 
speak and act the truth, as persons and as a nation; 
to fear no man, but to fear to do evil; to protect our 
own freedom and to give it to all other men every- 
where; to be wise and strong, and to use our wisdom 
and strength, not in selfishness, but in service. 

We want all American children to have good health, 
good sense, good-will. We want them to know the 
spirit of true democracy, the spirit that was born in 
our dear country, and is protected by our sacred flag. 

As American children let us understand and re- 
member how great is our inheritance, and how sin- 
cerely we must try to be worthy heirs of our country. 

Let us say, all together, — 

I am an American. My country is the freest, the 
richest, and the most beautiful land on earth. 

My Flag is unstained. My Navy is unconquered. 
My Army defends the freedom of the world. 

The faith of America is faith in God and man. She 



OUR IDEALS TO-DAY 159 

believes in brotherhood and opportunity. She be- 
lieves in justice and mercy. 

America has received from all races. She gives to 
all races. One bond binds all races together in her 
citizenship. It is the bond of loyalty. To be an Amer- 
ican is to love America; to believe in America; to 
serve America. To be an American is to live by the 
American ideals of freedom, honor, and service. 

I thank God for the privilege of being a child of 
America. I pray that I may be worthy of the priv- 
ilege. With gratitude and high purpose, for service 
with the heart, hand, and brain, 

"I AM AN AMERICAN." 



CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS 
U . S . A 



